Umbra Corde
by Cool Tunder
Summary: The Demon King Demise's curse has lasted over many eons and has affected the lives of many unknowing people. Now, it rests on the shoulders of Regina Adams, an artistic 17 year old girl. However, when she is kidnapped by a certain flamboyant Demon Lord and brought back to the ancient past, she must team up with the King of Evil himself to save the world from the reason they exist.
1. Prologue: The Curse

Prologue: The Curse

 _Look, you're gonna have to forgive my story telling skills, because I don't completely understand this myself._

 **Don't worry. I can tell it with you if that would make you feel better.**

 _Thanks. Anyway, this is a tale we humans have told for a really, really long time… but have eventually forgotten. It tells of a devastating war involving gods, people, and demons, the likes of which would never be seen again. One dark, fateful day, the earth cracked wide open and lot of evil things rushed out._

 **They were lead by a being whose name would become synonymous with the death and destruction he wrought; Demise, the Demon King. Under his command, his armies mounted a brutal assault upon the surface people, driving the land into deep despair. They burnt forests to ashes, choked the earth's sweet springs, crumpled the tallest mountains into a fiery inferno, and murdered without hesitation.**

 _Everything Demise did, he did in order to gain the Triforce, an all-powerful treasure that could grant the wish of anyone who held it. Afraid of what would happen if this power landed in his hands, the goddess Hylia, who protected the Triforce and the earth, sent it, along with any surviving humans, to a small outcropping of land. She then raised them all up beyond the clouds. Out of danger, out of sight, out of mind._

 **With the humans and the Triforce safe, Hylia joined forces with the land dwellers and fought against the demonic threat. Eventually, she herself was the one to defeat Demise and seal him away. Without the leadership of their dark master, his armies were driven back into the abyss from whence they came. Finally, peace had been restored to the Surface. But that peace did not last forever.**

 _A whole lot of time passed and with the help of a certain little bitch, Demise was freed, giving him another chance to take over the world. But (there's a but) Hylia knew this was going to happen, so her reborn mortal self and her chosen hero were there to stop him. Now, this is the part where I say that good triumphs over evil and they all lived happily ever after._

 **However, this was not the case. With his last breath and remaining power, Demise placed a curse upon the land, more specifically the Blood of the Goddess and the Spirit of the Hero. The curse stated that they would all be forever haunted by his reincarnation, a physical manifestation of his power and hatred. Thus the Cycle began. Whenever Demise is reborn, the hero incarnate and the descendent of Hylia will rise up to defeat him… or her.**

 _This particular story may be forgotten, but a bunch more stem from it._

 **Legends of knights, monsters, princesses, gods, and other such things are based off these ancient myths, which all have origins connected to this tale.**

 _And we should know, because our story just happens to be one of them._

 **My name is Ganondorf Dragmire.**

 _My name is Regina Adams._

 **And this the tale of the First and the Last.**

 _Here goes nothing._

 **Must you always have to have the last word?**

 _Yep!_


	2. Chapter 1: Just a Day in the Life

Chapter 1: Just a Day in the Life

"REGINA!"

I looked up from my sketchbook to see my history teacher, Mr. Chalanick, standing next to my desk and giving me a death glare. The rest of my class was staring at me unblinking. I just put on a smile, adjusted my violet, wide framed glasses, and asked in my most innocent voice, "Is there a problem?" The whole thing was fake as hell.

"What is that on your desk?"

Here we go.

"My sketchbook."

"And what are you doing?"

"Artsy stuff."

"Instead of paying attention to the assignment I'm about to give you?"

"Pretty much. Shouldn't you already know all of this?" A couple of boys in the front row snickered. The girl sitting next to me rolled her eyes.

"Pity you can't get good grades in anything but finger painting and snarky remarks," she said with a very fake smile.

"Says the girl who has all her homework done by her daddy's secret service," I lash back.

"Girls, please!" Mr. Chalanick was losing more patience by the second. "Regina, put your little project away and pay attention. Zoe, don't push it. Your father may be the former governor of New York, but you yourself are still just a student."

"A student that can get you fired," she whispered as he moved back to the front of the class. Zoe then glanced at me and quietly added, "and you expelled." My comeback consisted of a glare and the pushing up of glasses with my middle finger. The girl in question is Zoe Nohansen, the typical blonde haired, blue eyed rich girl, AKA my worst enemy. I won't go into specifics, but let's just say an accident on the first day of sixth grade involving my lunch on her designer dress has made me the Veronica Mars of the Dover Plains school district.

"As I was saying," said Mr. Chalanick as I put my sketchbook away, "In last year's class, as well as the last few weeks, we've seen many wars from the conquest of Roman Empire to the French Revolution. You've seen many military strategies and political uprisings, and now, you're going to create your own. Each one of you is going to write at least one page describing how you, the leader of an army or country, would conquer another area. The essay will be due next Friday at the beginning of class, and it will count for 20% of your grade for this semester. There will also be a small contest along with this project. The student who creates what I deem the best strategy will receive 3 homework passes. How's that for motivation?" The bell rang and everyone rush out of there seats and towards the door. I was halfway there myself before-.

"Regina, a word."

I cringed as I slowly stepped towards the front desk. Almost made it, I thought. "Yes?"

"This is the third time this week that I've caught you doodling in class. Can I have an explanation as to why that is?"

"…Just wanted to get something done." I pulled my sketchbook out of my bag and opened it to my latest project; a large man with unfinished black scales, red eyes, the beginnings of long fiery hair, and a long black waste cape with golden trim. In it's hand was the beginning of a large, double edge sword. Mr. Chalanick stared at the incomplete picture for half a minute before speaking.

"I'm beginning to become concerned about you."

"Sigh, everyone's a critic," I said with a prominent eye roll, putting the book away.

"Anyway, this inattentive attitude would normally earn you a detention, but I'd be willing to let you off with a warning if you'd be willing to take on some extra work."

"I'm listening." I really didn't want to spend another detention with all the paper eaters and football perverts.

"For you, I want a visual representation of your strategy, step-by-step."

"Like a comic book?"

"Of sorts. But just keep it appropriate for school."

I still don't see how that's a punishment.

* * *

There was still a whole week before the project was due, so when lunchtime came around, I was munching on an apple while continuing my latest work. If this had been a perfect world, I'd also be jamming out to P!nk by this point. However, due to the school's new cell phone policy, this year I'm drawing to the sounds of at least 500 different voices talking at the same time in a very echo-y cafeteria. I'd just finished the flame hair of my subject when someone came up behind me and covered my eyes.

"Hey, Reg."

This would be the part where I mention my Irish twin.

"Hey, Josh." My eyes were uncovered and, indeed, my older brother took a seat beside me. He caught a glimpse of my project and chuckled. "Is that Akuma? I didn't know you were a Street Fighter fan."

"Ha, ha. No, it's just something that's been on my mind."

Josh nodded, then changed the subject. "So, how're you holding up?"

"Oh, you know; sweet talked my way out of a detention, almost got into another cat fight with you know who. The usual."

"Should have known."

We talked for a little while as I continued my drawing. What can I say? I'm a pretty good multi-tasker. We were in the middle of a discussion about his later basket ball game when an envelope, followed by a hand, flattened on the table. I looked up and, lo and behold, the hand's owner was Zoe. Behind her stood her overly loyal boyfriend, Lance O'Connor, with an unreadable expression on his face. Josh fell silent, as did a few interested kids at some nearby tables. I glanced between the envelope and the happy couple before saying, "Can I help you?" Zoe pushed the envelope closer to me, a far too happy smile on her face. "Go on. Open it." Hesitantly, I picked it up and ripped it open. Inside was an orange and black invitation:

'The Nohansens cordially invite you to a Halloween party this Saturday, October 31. Be sure to be in costume! Come join us… if you dare.'

I look between the letter and Zoe for about a minute. "…Two things. First, you just gave me an invite to something that's tomorrow. Second, who are you and what have you done to Zoe?"

"Also," Josh added, "no invite for me?"

"Sorry, it's for the junior class only," Lance finally spoke. "And, Regina, you'd be the guest of honor."

…Yep. Definitely a trap. "And why would that be?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Zoe was doing the thing. You know when a person has something planned, they get this weird glint in their eye? Yeah, that thing. "It's just a way of letting bygones be bygones."

"So, it takes you this long to let 'bygones be bygones'?"

Zoe's smile twitched a bit. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Josh put his hand on my shoulder. "Reg, just le-." I shrugged him off and stood up.

"I mean, you've practically been waging a war against me for, what, six years now? And now, out of the blue, when we got in trouble for this literally TWO PERIODS ago, you decide you wanna be friends? How stupid do you think I am?!"

Lance got in between us. "Back off."

"Or what, hero, you gonna tattle? There are literally two teachers in the corner right now, just watching all this go on." It was true; a good portion of the cafeteria, as well as the lazy teachers that signed up to 'supervise' us for some easy cash, were invested in the show. I stepped forward a bit, now up in his face. "Listen up, Lance. The whole knight-in-shining-armor routine is cute and all, but for what? She's gonna treat you like a dog, then put you up for adoption as soon as some big money walks on by. If I were you, I'd save myself the heartbreak."

"Why you little-!" I prepared myself for a bitch slap, but instead, Zoe put her arm on Lance's shoulder, calming him down. "Hey now, let's all step back and take a deep breath." Then she turned to me. "See you tomorrow then. I'm sure it'll be a night to remember."

With that said, she walked off, her very pissed off boyfriend in tow. For another moment, the cafeteria was silent. Once everyone realized that the show was over, the other kids turned away and the cafeteria's voice count went back up to 500. Yet another moment later, Josh turned to me and said, "you know, you don't have to fight with them like that. You could always be the bigger person and call it a truce."

"They're the ones that started it. And by the way Zoe was talking about tomorrow, I think they plan to finish it."

"You've been watching too much anime."

"Avatar and Voltron aren't anime, you uncultured American." Beep beep The noise caught me off guard, as I was pretty sure I turned off my phone this morning. After looking to see if the teachers were watching, I opened up my backpack, reached in, and pulled it out. "New Message" was displayed on the screen. I opened up the phone and read this:

'Dearest Regina, it's been ages since we've last seen each other. I was thinking we could catch up a bit after school, perhaps around 3:00? You'll know the place. I simply can't wait! -G'

At first, I was like 'great, more instant invitations', but after rereading the text, I realized I didn't know who the hell this was. There wasn't even an actual number to go with it. It could have been a wrong number, but what were the chances that this guy or girl meant to text another Regina that still went to school and just happened to text me by mistake?

"Reg, are you okay?" Josh shook me out of my thoughts.

"…wrong number," I said, putting my phone away. "So… are we still picking up Sammy today?" I was overly nervous, but I wasn't about to show it. For the time being, I wasn't going to think about it.

* * *

So, a little more about the family tree. Josh and I have another brother, Sammy, who turned 6 a little while ago. The whole situation is that ever since… Dad… since Mom started working extra hours at the hospital (she's a surgeon), we've kinda sorta been like his parents. It's not like our Mom's been a bad parent, but with her busy all the time, Josh and I had to grow up rather fast. I mean, how many people could say that they'd played hooky at 14 years old to take care of their sick 4 year old sibling? Anyway, on with the story. At about 2:58 that afternoon, Josh and I were standing by his car in the elementary school's parking lot. While he was ranting about his basketball game later that night, I kept glancing at the time on my phone. Now I will admit that I was still freaked out, and that my heart seemed to steadily beat faster as 3:00 approached.

2:59. 60 more seconds.

"Regina, are you okay?"

30 seconds.

"What? Oh, yeah, l'm fine."

Ten seconds.

"You seem on edge."

5 seconds.

"I fine."

3:00.

I jumped when the school bell rang. But when I saw that the only thing happening was that the little kids were rushing out of the building, I let out a relieve sigh. No weird strangers coming to 'catch up' with me. My relief turned to all out joy when I saw a certain little 6 year old boy half waddling half sprinting toward us, his Spider Man backpack bouncing as he came. "Weggie! Joshie!" When he was close enough, I crouched down to scoop him up in my arms. "Ooh!" I groaned mockingly. "Jeez you're getting heavy. So how's my little man?"

"Gweat! We dwawed today, and Miss Genn said I'm a vewy good a…aw…."

"Artist?" I finished.

"Yeah, li' you!"

"Can we see?" Josh butted in.

"No!" Sammy squirmed in my arms, forcing me to put him down. "Isnot done ye'!" My little brother made a pouty face and it seemed like he was about to cry.

"Well," I stepped in, "why don't we get you strapped in, and get you home for some-."

"Chocla' miwk?" Translation: chocolate milk, Sammy's favorite part of the day.

"That's right, Doodlebug," I answered. The kid giggled and ran over to the car's back right door.

"Jeez, for someone who doesn't want kids, you're great with them," Josh remarked before going to help Sammy into his booster seat. I stuck my tongue out at his back and laughed. I'm not sure why, but, oddly enough, my brothers always put me in a good mood. All worries about the text went away, if only for that moment. If I had only known what was going to happen five minutes later.

"Have you heard anything from Mom?" I asked Josh about a mile out from the school. Keeping his eyes on the road, he shook his head. "If I had to guess, she's probably going to be late again."

"No, it's Friday, She usually gets home around 5-ish on Fridays."

Beep beep.

"That's probably her." I got my phone out, but as soon as I read the words on the screen, I knew it was the same guy from before.

'Where are you? I can't see you anywhere'

"Who is it?" Josh asked. Sammy, who had been singing a little "gonna get chocla' miwk" to himself the whole time, went silent and leaned forward in his booster seat, interested.

"Uh… wrong number."

'Dude, I think you have the wrong number,' I texted back.

The reply came almost immediately. 'Oh no, I do have the right person. Now, are you coming to meet me or not?'

'Fuck off weirdo.' I was more annoyed now than anything. But not for long.

Beep beep.

'I guess we're doing things the hard way'

 **BANG**

No sooner than I finished reading the reply, the sound of a tire popping rattled my head and the car spun out of control. I dropped the phone and started screaming alongside Sammy while Josh tried to regain control. Seconds later, we were in a ditch, driver's side down. Sammy was still crying and Josh seemed to be holding his breath. Other than that, we were somehow okay. "Everyone okay? Sammy?" The toddler didn't respond and continued to cry. "Josh?!"

"I'm alright."

"How did that happen?"

"I don't know. Maybe the tire was worn out? Regina, can you climb out and help Sammy out? I'll be right behind you."

I nodded and unbuckled the seatbelt. Climbing out of the car at a 45 degree angle was a bit awkward, but I managed. As I was to reach for the back door, I noticed something lodged in the popped tire. I kneeled down and pulled it out; it was a very strange looking knife, almost like a kunai. "U-uh, Josh?" I stood up… and immediately had my arm twisted behind my back. I dropped the knife and had a scream catch in my throat. I could hear my brothers screaming as a voice spoke from over my shoulder.

"You should know by now that I don't like it when my patience is tested. I gave you a chance to come willingly, but now I see that I'll have to get what I want more… forcefully." The voice chuckled as I struggled in its owner's grasp.

"W-what do you want with me?"

"You shall see soon enough… Master." A white gloved hand appeared in front of me and pressed a thumb to my forehead. The last thing I saw was Josh trying to climb out of the car, shouting for me. Then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan

Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan

I blinked as I was lead into the sunlight for the first time in weeks. I would have been more relieved to see the outside again if my circumstances had been different. Instead, I was lead along by the Hylian guards knowing my destination was death.

Soon enough I was chained to the large stone at the top of the coliseum like structure. I will admit it did make me sad to see how what once was our beloved Spirit Temple had been twisted into a foul prison for the Hylian bastards. Much had changed in nearly 500 years. Everything, it seems, except me.

The guards that had lead me here seemed to scurry away once their duty was done. A few minutes later, my executioners appeared as if from thin air; six ghostly figures that called themselves Sages, their mask-like faces unreadable. I could only glare as their leader, the Sage of Light, stepped forward and spoke.

"Ganondorf Dragmire, you stand here upon these holy grounds accused of high treason against the people of Hyrule, and are sentenced to die this day. However, there is hope for you yet. The Sage of Spirit has offered you a chance to repent for your sins. If you were to confess to your crimes and ask forgiveness, your sentence shall be reduced to exile."

"Please," said Sage of Spirit pleaded. "Consider your answer carefully." For a moment, I could see the person the Sage used to be, but then she was gone, and my anger returned.

"And why would you care whether I live or die, Fano?" I snapped. "With the way you've been behaving, I think you, most of all, should be glad to be rid of me!"

"You see, my brothers and sisters?" The Sage of Water suddenly spoke up. "I told you this would happen! Throw a Deku Baba a treat, and you shall find your whole hand gone! A monster such as he does not deserve forgiveness!" And there it was. Monster. The Sage stepped forward and willed a glowing white sword into existence. "Any last words, Demon Thief?" she spat as the sword was aimed at my chest.

"I'll see you all in hell."

My executioner rushed forward. First there was a blinding pain in my chest. Then nothing but blackness. I was all alone in the deafening silence. I couldn't move or even lbreathe, and I had no control over my thoughts. If this was death….

 **Don't get comfortable, boy. I'm not done with you just yet.**

The voice startled me and I felt my body surge with power and move on its own. I was blinded by the sudden light and I couldn't quite tell what was happening. I felt myself struggling for a few moments, then I was propelled forward. Another moment later and the surge ended. My surroundings focused in and I was now aware of a dull ache in my chest. The Sages had stepped away from him in horror. Wait… one was missing. The Sage of Water. That's when I noticed her mask on the ground in front of me and her sword in my hand. No explanation was needed then.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?"

Everyone turned toward the voice and immediately found its owner. He (or she) looked Hylian, but the aura he gave off was purely demonic. The newcomer wore very odd clothing (a tight white bodysuit, an oddly cut red cloak, and other accessories, all with diamond patterns) and his short white hair covered half of his face. There was another person with him, a younger… boy? draped over his shoulder.

"And who are you?" I asked.

The man chuckled and was suddenly right in front of me. I flinched slightly as the Sages tried to attack. The man only grabbed me by the arm and with a snap of his fingers (which he barely managed to do while holding the boy), we found ourselves in another location entirely. Before I could fully take in my surroundings, a body was dumped unceremoniously into my arms, making me drop the Sages' sword.

"Take the child, would you?" The pale man ordered while rubbing his shoulder. "My shoulder's absolutely killing me."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Oh, yes, pardon my manners. You may call me Ghirahim. In truth, I would prefer to be indulged by my full title: Lord Ghirahim. But I'm not fussy."

"And this boy?"

Ghirahim chuckled before answering. "That's a girl."

…Well then.

"Honestly, Ganondorf, I would think that you of all people would know what a young lady looked like. But, then again, maybe you weren't completely invested in women, hmm?"

I struggled to contain a cringe as Ghirahim licked his lips.

"Anyway, that's Regina. Don't worry, you two will have plenty of time to get acquainted once your purposes are fulfilled."

"And those purposes?"

The Demon Lord was about to answer before a red Bokoblin rushed in through a pair of stone doors, shouting in a language I didn't recognize. As it approached, Ghirahim's eye began to twitch. "Would you mind repeating that," he asked once the Bokoblin had finished. The phrase was spoken again and the Demon Lord rubbed his temple. "Honestly. Make sure he stays here." He then turned to look at me. "If you would excuse me, I need to go murder a couple of idiots." With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flurry of diamonds.

The Bokoblin stood and stared. I sighed and turned my attention to the "girl" in my arms. She didn't have the same body type that a regular girl her age (I would assume she would be about 16) and her short, messy black hair and the tan pants didn't exactly help with the confusion. One of the first things I noticed was a pair of purple glasses on her face. As I continued to ponder the child, she began to stir. I was soon met with a pair of emerald green eyes, full of fear and confusion. She began to squirm, forcing me to put her down.

"Josh? Sammy?!" The girl looked around in a panic, then looked toward me. "Who are you?!" Then at the Bokoblin. "What the hell is that?!" Said Bokoblin seemed very offended and shouted in its strange tongue, causing her to scurry away to the far wall.

Instincts kicked in that hadn't been there in a long time. I approached the child slowly, hands raised. "I'm not going to hurt you." The frightened girl seemed to calm down a bit, but not entirely. "It's alright, just try to calm yourself." My hand, entirely on its own accord, reached out to touch her shoulder. She tensed a bit at the touch, but then relaxed. She met my eye, all of the fear seeming to fade from them. Then….

"What is with your eyebrows?"

...

...

…That I was not expecting.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry. I just sometimes say random things to calm down." The girl slumped against the wall, placing a hand on her heart. "I mean, I was just in a car crash, then I was kidnapped by some 'G' person, and now I find a big old red head with Rock Lee eyebrows holding my unconscious body. And seriously, what is that thing over there?"

"Din, you act like you've never seen a Bokoblin before."

"That's because I haven't, Bushy Brow."

"Okay, the eyebrow comments stop now."

"Hey, it's not my fault that they're so big and look like they meld into your hairline."

I growled.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"…Your name is Regina, am I correct?"

The girl began to panic again. "How'd you know that?"

"Ghirahim was kind enough to inform me."

"Who?…Oh wait, 'G'! The guy who kidnapped me!"

"Kidnapped both of us, it would seem." On the other hand, however, he did get me away from my execution.

"So…this Ghirahim guy wouldn't happen to have let you know about anything else, like, I don't know, why we're here?"

"I'm afraid not." I made sure the Bokoblin wasn't listening to intently (the creature seemed a bit drowsy), then dropped my voice to a whisper. "And to be perfectly honest, I'd rather not stay to find out. Now, listen carefully-."

"Who made you in charge?" Regina whispered back.

"I did. Now, we need a way to incapacitate the guard. Discreetly."

Regina glanced past my shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "You mean the one taking a nap?

I wasn't sure what she meant until I turned around. Somehow, in the 10 seconds I had looked a way, the Bokoblin had drifted off to sleep while still managing to stand. "...Yes, that would be the one."

"Now what?"

I took a breath and finally took a look at my surroundings. We were in a small, crumbling stone building. There were two sets of doors, two escape options; the doors where the Bokoblin entered from, and a set of ivy-covered doors off to one side. Before deciding where to go, I bent down and considered the Sages' sword. It didn't really matter who made or owned it; neither of those things would tell me what was out there, and I, for one, would prefer if I was armed. Sword in hand, I made my way over to the latter door, the girl following suite. I opened to door slowly, in case of a trap or ambush. Sensing none, I fully stepped outside. We were at the edge of a dense forest, most likely Faron Woods. I considered trying to teleport back to the Fortress, but then again…. I turned to the girl. "Do you know where you are in respect to your home?"

"Uh…no."

"Can you use magic? Can you teleport home?"

She laughed. "You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm quite serious."

"Well, I don't know what you've been smoking, but last time I checked, there's no such thing as magic."

Sigh. "You know what? I'm not even going to waste my time explaining to you just how wrong you are. You'll just have to come with me until we get you sorted out." Before she could protest, I grabbed her shoulder and flicked my wrist, imagining where I wanted to go. A familiar violet smoke surrounded us and I felt the spell working. When the cloud dissipated after a long moment, we found ourselves… in the exact same spot. "…Shit."

"Well, you're not wrong. Impressive as that was, you did a shit job trying to prove your point."

"I suppose we just have to walk." I began walking away from the crumbling building, but stopped to look back at Regina. "Coming?"

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Before I could respond, there was a distant sound that sounded like a Bokoblin screaming in agony, followed by what I assumed to be Ghirahim's maniacal laughter. The girl must gave heard it too, because she was walking at a brisk pace toward and past me. "Fuck it, I'm going with you."

And so our journey began.

* * *

"You never told me your name."

I didn't fully hear the girl. I was more focused on the fact that I had no idea where we were. The forest around us had seemed like Faron, but there were things here that weren't familiar to the Woods that I was familiar with; mushrooms as tall as my hip, Deku Babas with twice divided mouths, and a creature that Regina had described as 'a cross between a penguin and a kiwi', whatever that meant. Not to mention the entire shape of the ground was off. This land was completely strange to me, which made the chances of either of us finding our way home extremely slim, with or without magic.

"Hey, Bushy Brow!"

I snapped out of my thoughts. "I thought we agreed to end the eyebrow comments."

"Well, you didn't answer me. What's your name?"

"…." Great. Now I had to worry about having her know who I was. "My name isn't the sort I just give to people."

"Hey, you already know my name, it's only fair if I know yours."

I remained silent.

"I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about."

"..."

"I'm just gonna keep bothering you until you tell me."

"..."

"It's either your name or Bushy Brow."

"Sigh… Ganondorf Dragmire." There, I got it out. Now she was either going to run or attack in terror. She didn't say or do anything at first, but then….

"I didn't think any name could get any stupider than Regina Adams."

This girl was turning into quite a surprise each second I spent with her. "What?"

"No offense, but it sounds like something you'd give a bad OC."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Well, an OC is-."

"Why are you not afraid?"

She gave me a confused look. "Should I be?"

Before anything else could be said, a strange sound filled the air. BEEP BEEP. Regina seemed to recognize the sound and put her hand over a pocket in her pants. "My phone?" She reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a small glass tablet. "How did this-?" She paused after pressing something on the tablet's surface. Her expression was filled with terror. I stepped to her side and peered over her shoulder to find out what she was looking at. On the tablet was some sort of written dialogue between two people. The last message:

'Peek-a-boo. I found you.'

The ground began to rumble and the sounds of screaming filled the air. A moment later, a small horde of red and green Bokoblins came rushing from the trees towards us. Knowing in this case I was out numbered, I grabbed the girl by the wrist and ran.

"I think Ghirahim may be mad at us!"

"No shit, girl!"

I stopped when we entered a small ravine. On the ledges on either side of us were precariously piled boulders. Praying that this wouldn't go the way the teleporting spell did earlier, I let go of the girl's wrist and stabbed the Sages' sword into the ground and sent out the command. Not a moment later, the boulders came crashing down onto most of the pursuing Bokoblins and impeded the rest. Regina stared in disbelief as I pulled the sword out of the ground. "What…? How'd you-?!"

"Come on! That won't hold them back for long!" I grabbed her wrist and began running.

"How the hell did you do that?!"

"That's not important at the moment, girl!"

"You stabbed the grass and suddenly there was just this big rockslide! How's that not important?! JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"LATER, IF WE SURVIVE!"

I hadn't payed as much attention to where I was going as I should've been. So by the time I realized that the stone bridge that I'd lead us onto didn't span the entire lake, it was too late to turn back. We skidded to a halt at the edge of a straight drop into the churning waters below. The Bokoblins were fast approaching, cutting off the way back, and we were too high up to survive a jump. The only option was to stand and fight.

"Get behind me," I commanded the girl, stance set and sword poised to strike. She obeyed and seemed to hide behind my cape as the Bokoblins made their way across the half-bridge. Once they were only a couple of yards away, they stopped, weapons ready. A moment later, a flurry of diamonds appeared, followed closely by Ghirahim.

"You two have been naughty little children, haven't you?" The Demon Lord licked his lips and, with a snap of his fingers, summoned a black rapier. "Normally, such behavior would get you a firm punishment, but fortunately for the two of you, I need you alive… and unspoiled."

Regina, who had had a firm grip on my cape, slacked it when she saw Ghirahim. "Wait, is that supposed to be Ghirahim?"

"Yes," I answered, not taking my eyes off the Demon Lord in question. At least, not until I heard her snort. This was followed by a fit of poorly suppressed giggles.

"Oh God," she said in between laughs, "we've been kidnapped by Miley Cyrus!"

"How dare you?!" Ghirahim exclaimed. "Don't ever compare the magnificence of my form to that of such a wench!"

The comment only caused Regina to crumple to the ground, holding her sides in laughter. Truth be told, I had restrain myself from laughing as well, and apparently, so did the Bokoblins amassed behind the Demon Lord. In all honesty, it was hard to take one seriously when they dressed in the manner Ghirahim did. "ENOUGH!" A dagger willed itself into existence and imbedded itself into the stone by Regina's laughing form. She yelped, hopped back onto her feet, and hid herself behind my cape, almost like a shy or scared child would hide behind their mother or father. Meanwhile, Ghirahim was furious. "No more of these childish games! As soon as the ritual is complete, girl, you'll wish you'd kept your mouth shut!"

I raised the Sages' sword a little higher. "Leave her be," I growled.

The ground began to rumble. Everyone, including Ghirahim, was struggling to maintain their balance. The waters below began to churn more rapidly. Then suddenly, something large and blue surfaced with a splash and flew up to the half-bridge. "WHAT MONSTROSITIES DARE TO SET FOOT IN MY DOMAIN WITHOUT MY LEAVE?!" A booming voice echoed off the distant waterfalls as a large, blue creature looked down upon the party gathered. I flinched at the sheer power of its voice, Regina screamed bloody murder, and the Bokoblins tripped over themselves to get off the half-bridge, electing to either reach the safety of land, or jump to their doom in the lake. Ghirahim only seemed annoyed. He ran a hand through his white bangs and scrunched his face as if he only had a headache to worry about.

"Why must you always ruin everything, dragon?"

The creature took notice of Ghirahim. "So I see you've decided to return, Demon Lord. I was beginning to think you'd actually learned your lesson."

Ghirahim sighed. With a snap of his fingers, a large backpack appeared a few feet away from the girl and I. "I suppose you'll be needing this. But don't you dare think you've escaped me. You can't run from your destiny forever!" Another snap, and he was gone.

The "dragon" turned its attention on us. "And who are you?"

* * *

CT: (2 weeks ago) _"For those who care, I'll also try to have an update for Umbra Corde sometime this week."_

CT: (Now) I am such a liar

I did **finally** get the chapter up, and just in time for a very special birth day! YAYS! I'm now a year closer to death!

Also, you might be wondering what Fano means and what that's all about. Well, for this fic, there will be times that Ganondorf will be using Ehenív, the native language of the Gerudo created by Nina-Kristine Johnson in 2004 (NOT ME). Whenever you get a chance, you should visit the official Ehenív website and show support.

By the way: Fano- Traitor


	4. Chapter 3: Getting To Know You

Chapter 3: Getting To Know You

After a brief and terrifying introduction, the dragon (who had introduced herself as Faron) brought us to what I assumed acted as her throne room. As soon as Ganondorf and I wee placed on ground, I went as far as I could away from both of them (which got difficult once I realized that we were completely surrounded by water). At a reasonable distance by the edge of the water, I sat down and looked through my bag to see if Ghirahim had taken anything, but to my surprise, everything was present and accounted for; he even put my phone back in its usual pocket.

"Might I ask why that scoundrel was after the two of you?" Faron asked while I was double checking.

"I'm afraid I can't say," I heard Ganondorf answer. "He gave no reason for kidnapping us and there's no clear connection between the girl and I that would give us a clue."

"I see…."

"Am I right to say you've had trouble with Ghirahim before?"

"That's correct. About six months ago, he was all over the place, causing all sorts of trouble just to-."

I stopped paying attention when I felt something zoom by my face. I looked up to see a… pink firefly? No, the wings were too big. Maybe a butterfly? But since when do butterflies glow?

"HELLO!"

"Ahh!" I swatted at the bug and scooted away.

"HEY! That's a little rude!"

"I'm going insane. First red monsters, then dragon ladies, and now talking bugs."

"BUG?! I'm a fairy, thank you very much!"

"What's going on over here?" I could see Ganondorf coming over and Faron staring.

"She started it, Lady Faron! She called me a bug!"

"Since when do you care about what others say, Sowel?" the large dragon inquired. "Now that I think on it, since when do you actually arrive on time when summoned?"

"Things were getting boring and Navi was just on and on about her day and all that, so I was just passing through on my… way… home…. Oops."

Faron pinched her (non-existent) nose in annoyance. "Why do I even bother…. Sowel, you are to keep an eye on these two."

"What?"

"I have business in Lord Levias's realm. If my suspicions are correct, Her Grace and her Chosen Hero must be informed. Until I return, just… try to sort them out." With that, Faron straightened herself and flew out of the room.

The "fairy" sighed. Ganondorf watched Faron go, then turned to me. When I saw him step toward me….

"Not happening." I stood, dipped my hand into the water, and drew a sort of bubble around me. "See this bubble?"

"Child-."

"Do you see it?!"

"…Yes, I see the bubble."

"This is the Normal Bubble. Population: me. You or any other weird shit aren't allowed in this bubble. Got it?"

He was the one to pinch his nose now. "Fine." He sat down on his sign of the line. "However, we still need to figure this out. What sort of connection do we have that would be cause for kidnap?"

I thought for a moment. "… yeah, no clue."

"If I may," Sowel interrupted. "Why don't we just tell each other a bit about ourselves and try to connect the dots from there?"

"Didn't Faron just say how lazy you were? Or at least implied it?"

"After everything my sister just put me through, I could use an interesting story. I'll go first." The fairy cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Sowel, I'm a fairy, and I serve Lady Faron whenever I'm up to it."

We waited. "And?"

She gave a nervous laugh. "That's pretty much it. Oh, and I have a chatted box sister named Navi!"

For about half a minute, the only sound was the water. I looked over to Ganondorf; he glance down at that glowing sword of his. It didn't show easily, but he seemed uncomfortable about this "story time". I remembered how earlier, he'd been surprised to see that I wasn't scared when I heard his name. Did I really want to know who exactly this guy was?

I sighed. "Okay, I guess I'll go next. Hi, I'm Regina Adams. I'm seventeen and I like to draw." Understatement of the century. "I live in Dover Plains, about a two hour train ride north of New York City, with my Mom and my brothers, Sammy and Josh. And… not much else."

"That's nice!" Sowel rotated over to Ganondorf. "Your turn!"

He remained silent.

"C'mon, Grampadork, you gotta share," I said.

"Excuse me? Grampadork?!"

"Yep."

"I'm starting to prefer Bushy Brow."

"Too late, now spill the beans!"

He growled and turned around. I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry I teased you."

He looked back with a small smirk. "You should be, Rainy."

"What."

"Or maybe something like Gina."

"What!"

"Oh, how about... Doodlebug?"

"WHAAAT?!"

"That's so adorable!" Sowel squealed as she tried to sit on my shoulder.

"Hey, out of the bubble!"

"Oh! Sorry."

Ganondorf laughed at the scene, and I was probably as red as a tomato by then. "Just keep in mind that you brought this on yourself."

"Fair enough," I said through gritted teeth. "Look, why don't I start by asking you a question, then go from there?"

His face fell back into its normal stoic look. "And if I refuse to play this game with you?"

"Then we're never going to figure this out."

He sighed and thought for a moment. "Very well then. Your first question?"

I planned my words carefully. If I went right and asked him why he assumed I'd be afraid of him, he'd probably dodge the question and we wouldn't get anywhere. It was then I noticed the large gash in his armor. Not only was it not bothering Ganondorf (visibly anyway), it also seemed to glow the sane hue as his sword. I knew the question.

"Where'd you get that gash?"

He gave me a quizzical look. "What gash?"

That's weird. "The one right there on your stomach."

Ganondorf glanced at his stomach and seemed shocked. "I hadn't realized that was there."

"How could you not notice?"

"In case you haven't noticed, there has been a lot going on as of late!"

I put my hands up defensively. "Sorry. Anyway, back to the question."

He thought. "I suppose it was at my execution."

Terrifying, but progress none the less. "And why were you being… executed."

"Call it differing opinions. The kingdom of Hyrule agreed that my armies and I were meant to be nothing more than monsters and outcasts, and I wanted… equal treatment, amongst a few other things."

"Oh…kay. Well, how did you survive?"

He raised his right hand. "I believe it had something to do with this." Something began to glowing; three triangle marks positioned in a way to make a larger on. The top triangle shown just a bit brighter than the other two. Ganondorf sensed my confusion. "This is the Triforce of Power, one of three parts of the true Triforce."

I scooted over to the edge of my bubble for a closer look. It wouldn't have been the craziest thing I'd seen that day. "Cool. What does it do?"

"Even I'm not completely sure, but it does enhance my own magical prowess and gives me a prolonged life." He put his hand down and the mark stopped glowing. "Anyway, I survived, and immediately afterwards Ghirahim came with you draped over his shoulder."

We were all silent for a moment. Sowel, probably hoping to get off this topic, stepped back into the conversation. "So, Regina, you're an artist? May we see some of your drawings?"

I glanced at Ganondorf again, who showed some vague interest. "Sure." I opened my bag and pulled out my sketchbook. It was still opened to my unfinished piece. "I still have to draw this guy's sword, but I guess you can see it." I turned it to show them.

Sowel shrieked and hid behind Ganondorf's head; said man's eyes went wide when he saw it. He took the sketchbook from my hands and stared at the subject. "Pi va me-eshi...Why did you draw this?"

I was confused by the question. "It just kinda popped into my head a few days ago. Why, do you know him or something?"

"I… He used to appear in my dreams."

"Excuse me?"

"When I was about your age, I had the same dream almost every night. He seemed to loom over me and speak, only I couldn't ever make out what he was saying." He plucked Sowel out of her hiding place. "What do you know of this demon?"

She shook out of Ganondorf's grasp and shook. "T-that's Demise. He was one of the most feared Demon Kings in history."

"Wait a moment. If I remember correctly, there's mention of him in Hyrulean legend. He once waged war on the land in pursuit of the Triforce, but was ultimately sealed away by the Guardian Deity Hylia."

I was really confused. It was like listening to your friends talk/fangirl over their favorite tv show that you never heard of. "That's nice, but what does it have to do with Ghirahim kidnapping us?"

"Ghirahim?" Sowel asked. "He was Demise's right hand man. In fact, a little while ago, he tried to revive him with the reincarnated soul of Her Grace Hylia. I'm not aware of all the details, but her chosen hero was able to defeat both of them."

"And?"

"That's it."

I thought for a moment, then looked at Ganondorf. "So we're somehow connected through this guy, but why?"

"Goddesses know," he muttered more to himself than anything else.

Sowel suddenly shuddered. "Lady Faron has returned."

"How-?" I started.

"She's summoning us all outside." The fairy flew across the water to what looked like the mouth of a cave before looking back to us. "Coming?"

I picked up my backpack. Ganondorf seemed to create a large black sheath out of nothing, put his sword in it, and tie it to the left side of his waist. I looked around for a way to Sowel, but we were completely surrounded by water. "I'd rather not swim with a backpack," I muttered to myself.

Ganondorf walked over to the edge of the water and, to my amazement, stepped onto the surface. A violet circle appeared underneath his feet, separating him from the water. He turned and held a hand out to me, not saying a word. I glanced between him and the water for a few moments before shrugging. "Here goes nothing." I took his hand and stepped onto the circle. Everything felt solid beneath me, but I still felt a little queasy and was force to cling to his arm the entire way over.

"Magic is always a little rough the first time you experience it," Ganondorf said once we reached Sowel. "However, it does get easier to understand and handle."

"Yeah, no thanks. I'll be back home soon, and I won't have to think of magic, fairies, dragons, or demon kings ever again."

I didn't know then how wrong I was.

Reunited with the fairy, we stepped through the mouth of the cave and out into the light. Once out there, the first thing I saw was Faron, looking less threatening than before. Next to her were two blonde teens, a boy and girl, that seemed familiar. In fact, they looked kinda like….

"Zoe? Lance?" The teens seemed confused, but I had it all figured out in an instant (at least, I thought I had). "Oh, now I get it. This is all just some big prank!" I laughed and cross my arms. "You know, I knew you were planning something big, but I never knew you'd think of something so over the top. I mean, you nearly scared the shit out of me a couple times! And you somehow roped this guy into your little revenge scheme, too!"

"What?"

"YOU INSOLENT CHILD!" Faron bellowed as I hid behind Ganondorf. "That is no way to speak to the reborn spirit of Hylia!"

"Lady Faron." The blond girl spoke. "It's alright." She looked at me. "I don't know who Zoe and Lance are, but we're not them. My name is-."

"Zelda," Ganondorf said abruptly. "And the boy over there is Link."

Zelda looked as though her mind had been blown. "How did you know?"

"Let me guess," I said, stepping out from behind him. "You know two people that look really similar to these two?" Looking at them again, I noticed some differences. Zoe was a platinum blonde whereas Zelda's hair was more of a bright yellow; Link had more of a baby face compared to Lance's sharper features; both had long, pointed ears that the people I knew didn't.

"Strange…." Zelda muttered to herself, thinking for a few moments.

Link didn't say anything.

"Not gonna say anything?" I asked.

He shook his head with a grunt.

"Link doesn't talk much, I'm afraid," Zelda said, done thinking. "If you don't mind, you never told us your names."

Ganondorf thought for a moment. "…Agahnim. And this is Regina."

I looked at him, surprised. That was the name he gave Faron earlier, and now that I thought on it, he didn't tell Sowel his actual name either. He really didn't like giving people his name, and it still wasn't entirely clear why.

"Really?" Sowel, who we'd completely forgotten about, fluttered onto my shoulder. "I thought it was Grampadork!"

The next thing I knew I was on the ground, laughing my ass off. "Oh god! S-Sowel, that's a nickname I gave him!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I give everyone nicknames." I picked my myself up and let out a few more giggles as I saw Ganondorf's twitching eye.

"What would mine be?"

"Uh… probably something like Tinkerbell."

"Well, anyway, it's nice to meet you, Regina and Agahnim." She turned to Faron. "Thank you for telling us about this. We can take it from here."

"Of course, My Lady." Before leaving, the dragon gave the fairy a sharp look. "You are not to leave their sides, understand?"

I heard a tiny gulp from the fairy. "Yes, m-my lady."

With one last glare, Faron shot up into the sky, disappearing behind a cloud. Zelda turned to Link. "Ready to hand back to Skyloft?" He answer was a nod and a grunt. He pulled a large white sheet out of… somewhere, and handed it to Ganondorf. "Alright, Agahnim will hold onto the sailcloth and Regina, you hold onto him." She made her way over to a statue of a bird (how had I not noticed that before?).

"So, um, where exactly is 'Skyloft'?"

She giggled and pointed up.

"…What?"

* * *

Man, writer's block is a real bitch, I have no excuse for not updating. However, tests are just about done, so I'll have a lot more free time to write! Hopefully I'll get a new chapter up for Many Unexpected Things and maybe even a new story within a week… aaaaand I just jinxed myself. Shit.

Anyway:

Pi va me-eshi - By the sand goddess


	5. Chapter 4: Skyloft

Chapter 4: Skyloft

I'll admit (but never out loud) to feeling slightly scared and queasy about being flung up into the air by some invisible force then being caught by a large red bird. Regina, in contrast, was screaming bloody murder into my ear and clinging to me as if the world itself was ending. One part of me wanted to comfort her and tell her that she would be alright, and the other wanted to shove her off before she squeezed the life out of me. Fortunately, the situation did not last long; no sooner had we found ourselves on the bird did I see our destination. A large isle somehow floating above the clouds. When closer, one could see more of the large birds gliding in the skies above the isle, as well as a small town on the isle itself. Not moments later, we found ourselves on solid ground again.

Regina, however, refused to let go.

"Child, we've arrived."

"…" Another tight squeeze.

"Regina, let go."

There was a shaky sigh and the girl stepped away. "Okay, I'm fine. I'm fine." The statement was more to herself than anyone else. A moment later, Sowel emerged from her place in Regina's bag.

"Oh wow! I always wanted to see this place! The cloud barrier always made it impossible, but now that it's gone…!" I heard a dreamy sigh from the fairy before she fluttered onto Regina's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

The girl swayed unsteadily. "…Yeah, just- just give me a second before I puke."

Link and Zelda soon joined us. "Agahnim, Regina, Sowel," Zelda addressed us. "May we be the first to welcome you all to Skyloft." I glanced around. Already many eyes were upon us where we stood in what I assumed to be the plaza. The stares continued as we were lead away from the common area to a wooden staircase connecting the isle we stood on to another smaller one. The trip across said staircase was a trial, for as soon as Regina took the first two steps, she glanced down at the sea of clouds below and became increasingly nauseated. After the ordeal, we found ourselves in a building Zelda referred to as the Knight Academy. Regina and I were then shown to a small room with little more than a single bed.

"You can get yourselves sorted out here," Zelda said. "There's a bath upstairs and down the hall, dinner is in about an hour, and if you need anything before then, Link is in the room next door." With that, the door was closed and we were left to our own devices.

With Sowel sitting on her shoulder, Regina sat down on the bed, opened and reached into her bag, and pulled out her sketchbook and what I assumed to be a writing utensil. "So, what do we know?"

Without waiting for an invitation, I took a seat next to her. "We both know two people with terrifyingly similar names and features. We both have some vague knowledge of an ancient Demon King. And we were both captured by said Demon King's concub- I mean, servant, and taken to a strange land."

"What are those circles for?" Sowel asked. I glanced at the sketchbook and saw two large circles that crossed over each other at the center of the page. Both circles had either my crudely-spelled name or the girl's, and in the small area where the circles overlapped was an overly simplified version of the list I had given.

"It's a Venn Diagram," Regina answered the fairy as she wrote something in the circle assigned to herself. "Basically, you take two things, write down what makes them similar and then write down what makes them different." After her scribblings were done, she handed me the paper and the writing utensil (which seemed to be a piece of wood with a brittle grey stone inside it). "Here, write down your info."

I looked at what was written in Regina's circle:

 **Name: Regina Adams**  
 **Age: 17**  
 **DOB: March 15, 1998**  
 **Species: Human**  
 **Home: Dover Plains, New York**  
 **Occupation: high school student, part time doodler**

"DOB?" I asked.

"Date of birth."

"And why is species important?"

"Everyone that I've met in this place has had pointy ears except for me. You can't tell me that doesn't mean something."

"She does have a point," Sowel added.

I hesitated (because some of the questions have answers I had forgotten over such a long time) before writing in my assigned circle:

 **Name: Ganondorf Dragmire**  
 **Age: Around five hundred odd years**  
 **DOB: Season of Din, 473 YH, Reign of Harkinan, Third of his name**  
 **Species: Gerudo**  
 **Home: Gerudo Desert, West of the Kingdom of Hyrule**  
 **Occupation: King**

After finishing what I could, I returned the Diagram to Regina. She took one look and bit her lip. "Yeah… I have know idea what this means. Sowel?"

"Nope."

I heaved a sigh. This was going to take longer than I thought. The two of us were not even from the same world, it would seem, and the only connections that we had left more questions than answers. And to top it all off, it was only a matter if time before Ghirahim-. _…Time_. "What's the suffix behind the year of your birth?"

Regina thought for a moment. "CE, or AD, depending on who you ask. Why?"

"And what was the previous suffix used?"

"BCE, or just BC. Can you please tell me what-?"

"What's the first recorded event in the history that you know?"

Regina still seemed confused, but tried her best to find an answer. "C'mon, social studies, social studies…. The first thing that we learned about was the Neolithic Revolution and the establishment of River Valley Civilizations. Before that, it was just hunters and gatherers."

"How long ago?"

"Dude, you're scaring me."

I grabbed her shoulders. "How long ago?!"

"I don't know! Thousands of years ago!"

"Agahnim!" I didn't respond at first, briefly forgetting the false name I gave. After a moment, I turned to find Sowel fluttering in my face. "Please calm down!"

I looked back at the girl. The fear was back in her eyes and she was shaking in my grip. I was scaring her again. I took a deep breath and released my grip on her shoulders. "My apologies."

Regina regained her normal composure. "Damn right you are, Bushy Brow."

"Is that another nickname?" Sowel asked.

"What do you think?"

"…Yes?"

I cleared my throat. "Back to the topic at hand. I believe I have a theory. It may very well be possible that the two of us are from different points in history, you most likely being from a much later point where the kingdom I currently know is gone, and the only surviving beings of intelligence left are humans without pointed ears. Then, we've both been brought back further into the past where neither Hyrule or your River Valley Civilizations have been founded yet."

The girl thought for a second. "…I guess that makes sense, but what where's the connection?"

"That would be one of two options. Either you are a very distant descendant of mine-."

"Dude, I am white as fuck."

"…or you and I are connected through reincarnation."

"…" It was obvious she didn't get it.

"Oh!" Sowel flew in a circle around the room. "I can explain! So, when a person dies, their soul can either go to the Sacred Realm to find eternal peace, or they can be reborn in another form."

"Like in Hinduism!" Regina exclaimed all of a sudden. "Finally, something I really remember from 10th Grade social studies. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Mr. Chalanick for the win!"

"…Anyway," the fairy continued. "Sometimes, one may get snippets of memories from their past lives without even realizing it. Maybe one of those past lives that you both share remembers the Demon King."

"Thank you," I said. Fairies weren't normally this helpful to me. Well, not willingly. "However, that doesn't explain Link and Zelda, or…." I looked to Regina.

"Zoe and Lance." She set sketchbook down. "Hey, Sowel. Didn't you say that this Demise guy came back recently, and someone defeated him?"

"Yep!"

"That someone wouldn't happen to be one of the people we're staying with, right?"

 _Clever girl_ , I mused to myself.

There was a knock on the door. "Dinner's ready," Zelda's muffled voice said.

I stood and looked to Regina. "Finish the drawing and bring it with you." I didn't need to explain.

* * *

"Don't like your pumpkin soup, Agahnim?"

 _No_ , I pictured myself saying. It is a vile liquid that contains so many different spices that don't compliment each other at all. However, I reminded myself that rubbing our hosts the wrong way could cost us valuable information, so instead, I swallowed my current spoonful and said, "The soup is fine." Besides, after months of imprisonment and a very hectic afternoon, I would prefer to eat anything other than stale bread and rice.

Dinner itself was nearing an end; as this time's Link picked up everyone's empty bowls and brought them back to the kitchen for washing, Regina took one last swig of water before setting her empty glass down with a relieved huff. Sowel had left as soon as she was finished, saying she needed to report to Faron. Once the boy returned, the Hylian girl folded her hands on the table and looked between all of its occupants. "So," she said. "What does Ghirahim want with the two of you?"

I glanced at Regina. She returned the glance with a nod before answering. "We have a couple of theories, but nothing definite."

"But before we discuss that," I added before Zelda could speak. "We would appreciate it if you could answer some of our own questions."

"Oh, of course," Zelda said after a moment. In said moment, she had taken a quick, nervous glance at Link, which she thought I wouldn't catch.

"First off," Regina immediately began, "What can you tell us about Ghirahim. I mean, you must have met him at least once."

"Sadist, narcissist, stalker, pervert, demon." Everyone was shocked to hear Link speak. His voice was coarse from under use and had a lower pitch than I'd heard from any of the heroes I'd known.

"…Thank you, Link," Zelda spoke softly. "I know that took a lot of courage to say." She turned back to Regina and I. "He was the right hand to an ancient Demon King known as Demise-."

"This is all fine and dandy," Regina interrupted. "But we already know about all this from either Sowel or the creep himself."

"Then you must know that he's a sword spirit."

My heart stopped, if for but a moment. "We did not know this." Sword spirits were a rarity in and of itself. It takes a great amount of power and focus to create such a being, even more so to control it. Even I, when I attempted to create a sword spirit of my own, was greatly unsuccessful. This was not only a testament to Ghirahim's power, but the power of the being who created him.

"Well, it's true. He was created by Demise himself to command his armies. When the Demon King was defeated and sealed away, Ghirahim spent centuries, millennia even, finding a way to free his master." Zelda glanced downward. "Six months ago, he actually used the reborn soul of Hylia to revive him. And he succeeded."

"Am I correct to assume that you are that reborn soul." Her silence was all the answer I needed. Hyrule's royal family had always claimed to be the descendants of the Goddess Hylia. Perhaps this is what they meant.

After a shaky breath, the Hylian girl continued. "After he was resurrected, however, Link managed to defeat him. We assumed it was for good, but…." She looked to Link. "Demise's last words…."

"Hey, this wouldn't happen to be the same guy, would it?" Regina opened her sketchbook and showed the now completed portrait of the Demon King to the two Hylians.

The boy remained silent. The entire room became silent, in fact. No one knew what to make of this, but we had an answer to one question. However-.

"HEYO!"

I would never admit to jumping from my seat at the new voice. To my amazement (before reminding myself that this was an earlier time), a large Gerudo boy with a greasy pompadour sat down next to Zelda. "What's everybody talkin' about?" He noticed me. "Yo, Dad?! I haven't seen you in years!" Before I could say anything, the boy turned to Regina. "Well, hello there." He ran a hand through his greased hair. "I'm Groose. And you are?"

Regina smiled sweetly. "Nice to meet you, Groose. I'm the lesbian that doesn't wanna suck your puny dick."

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Both Groose and Zelda went wide-eyed, Link snickered to himself, and Regina just smiled smugly at her own comment.

"Okay, I think it's time for bed," Zelda spoke after recovering from her shock. "Groose, we'll fill you in once everyone has calmed down."

Goddesses know that my laughter doubled when I noticed a single tear glide down Groose's cheek.

* * *

Okay, exposition time:

1.) My little Hylian calender, while containing twelve months, has the seasons officially divided into three; the whole "Season of Din" refers to most of the summer months and the beginning of fall (say July-October), the Season of Nayru is the rest of fall and a majority of winter (November-February), and the Season of Farore is from the first snow melt right through spring (March-June)

2.) YH stands for Year of Hylia, marking history in context of when the kingdom of Hyrule was first founded. Further timeline placements concerning Hyrule's history and real world history will be explained in later chapters

3.) Sorry for the information drop of real historical events. When I started mentally planning this story, I was in a history class that was going over very early history at the time (about 3 years ago). Any inaccuracies that may come up are a result of either UC canon or my own faulty memory

4.) The interaction between Groose and Regina is one of the first scenarios that popped into my head for this story and I am so proud of myself for finally getting it down! (Also, Regina is indeed a lesbian: don't like it? Suck it up.)

Next on my list of updates is Many Unexpected Things; here's hoping I see you guys soon!


	6. Chapter 5: Fleeing the Complex

Chapter 5: Fleeing the Complex

Once we got back to the room, Ganondorf had returned to his serious self. When Sowel had asked us what all the laughing was about, all I could say was "penis joke". After that, we got ourselves ready for bed. Zelda popped in for a second to hand me a change of clothes, one of her old ceremonial dresses she said. I was adverse to wearing it because one, I don't like dresses, and two, I don't like pink. The color, I mean; Pink the singer was awesome. However, after a glare from my roommate, I just gave up and put it on. Speaking of my roommate, Ganondorf just snapped his fingers and summoned a mat and blanket (as he opted to give me and Sowel the single bed itself). Another snap and he was out of his armor and crown thingie and in a white shirt and baggy black pants. Once the crown itself was off, I was immediately shocked by how much hair he had (it was a big, curly red mass that went down to his waist!). When he caught me staring, he gave me a look that said "as if you're one to talk about stange hairstyles". After that, I found myself reaching for my phone. I looked at the top edge of the screen. No service. That didn't stop me from dialing Josh. All I got was a no service beeping.

"What's wrong now, Child?"

"I'm just worried about my brothers. They were there when I was kidnapped. What if Ghirahim took them too? What about Mom? What if-?"

"If that is the case, then you have my word that you will get them back."

I looked up at Ganondorf. For someone who had been given a death penalty, he sure was being nice to a complete stranger.

"He's right!" Sowel pipped in. "We'll get everything back to normal in no time."

"Thanks."

"Come now, we all need to regain our strength. Try to get some sleep, Child."

* * *

All that was two hours ago.

The combined glowing of Sowel's tiny body and Ganondorf's sword made trying to get to sleep more difficult than necessary. The addition of a certain fairy's snoring made it impossible. After awhile, I just gave up, got my phone and earbuds out, and started playing some music. Pink actually helped me relax a bit… well, as relaxed as one can get in this situation. While I was on the sixth song in the album, I noticed that Ghirahim may have done something to my phone. When Josh and I were picking up Sammy, the battery was at 80%. Looking at it now, it was back at 100%, and had stayed there for a while. Of all the things to do to me, why try to conserve my phone battery. Before I could think any further on that, I felt something. I came to a realization. Quickly and quietly I paused my music, got out of bed, and went to the door. Once out of the room, I tried to remember where I saw the bathroom.

Roughly two minutes later, I made my way back to the room, my business done.

"Sweet Hylia, it can't be him again."

I stopped in my tracks. Was it just me or did I just hear Groose's voice coming from the room Link was in? Quietly, I pressed my ear to the door.

"There doesn't seem to be any other explanation," Zelda's voice said.

"But I thought Link did him in! I thought he was gone for good!"

Shushing. "They're in the next room. They may be asleep, but let's not take any chances."

So they were talking about us.

"I'm just saying, why now? If he's still around, why wait this long to do something?"

"That's the thing, Groose. It definitely is Demise, but at the same time, it's not."

Wait, what?

"I don't get it."

"Remember Demise's last words? Maybe this is what he meant by the curse on us."

Curse? I wasn't liking this.

"Well, what do we do about it?"

"…Link, first thing in the morning, I need you to go get the Master Sword. Whatever they're planning, we need to stop them before they hurt someone."

The answer that she got from Link was a grunt.

I backed away from the door. I'd heard enough.

I ran back into our room. Ganondorf was already up and had his ear to the wall. He looked at me when I came in. "Are you alright?"

I was scared and on the verge of tears. "T-they're going to… to-."

"I know, Child, I heard them too."

"How can they just-!"

He placed his hands on my shoulders. "Look at me. It's alright. We'll be long gone before they can do anything. All you need to do is remain calm. Danzha?"

I didn't know what that last word meant, but I found myself repeating it. "D-danzha."

"Good." He stood to full height. "Wake the fairy and grab your things. We're leaving now." I did as I was told. I stuffed all my things, my phone, my normal clothes, everything, into my backpack. I put my sneakers on, knowing there may be some running in my immediate future (I probably looked pretty stupid with my sneakers and a pink dress on, but right now I didn't care). I nudged Sowel awake; she seemed pretty grumpy at first, but once the situation was made clear, she was fully awake. Looking over at Ganondorf, he had magicked all his armor back on and was tying his sword to his waist. Within the span of five minutes, we were all awake and ready to go, the room the same way we found it. "Ready, girls?"

"Ready," Sowel and I answered together. The fairy took a seat on my shoulder and we began our escape.

Unfortunately, the exact moment when we stepped out of our room was also when our hosts decided to walk out. For a long time, all we did was just stare at each other. Then Zelda stepped forward. "Is everything alright? Do you need anything?"

"As a matter of fact," Ganondorf answered, "I'm afraid we need to be leaving."

"N-now?"

"Now." He willed some sort of nut into existence and slammed it on the ground between us and them. There was a blinding light, and I felt myself being pulled down the hall and out the door before I got my sight back. We sprinted through the darkness, Sowel barely holding onto my shoulder as we went. Lights turned on in the houses that we passed. We weaved through alley, jogged up stairs, and eventually found ourselves at a dead end, nothing but open sky ahead of us. "Paesh!"

"Now what?" I asked.

Link, Zelda, and Groose arrived a moment later. Ganondorf pushed me behind him and drew his sword. This felt familiar.

"Please," Zelda spoke. "Just come back with us. We can work this out if you calm down."

"Calm down?!" I shouted back. "You're the ones trying to kill us! You calm the fuck down!"

Zelda froze. "How much did you hear?"

"We heard enough," Ganondorf answered, stepping forward. "And I, for one, did not escape execution just to be put to death alongside an innocent girl all because a couple of teens said so!"

"We're more than a couple of teens, Agahnim, if that's even your real name," Link spoke gruffly. "We've seen things. I've come face to face with Ghirahim and his dark master. Zelda has carried the weight of the world on her shoulders to hell and back! We have faced the darkness together and overcome every challenge you through at us. Curse or no curse, I won't let you try to destroy us again, Demise!"

I froze. Something in me seemed to click. The world began to blur around me. My head swam, half formed thoughts flying and pushing against my mind. I heard words from Ganondorf and Sowel, from Link and Zelda and Groose, felt my own mouth moving, but I couldn't hear any of it. I grabbed my head, wobbling, backpack seemingly ten times heavier than before. Something in the back of my mind seemed to speak.

 **Almost there, almost there-.**

My foot found nothing but air. I was falling.

"REGINA!"

* * *

"REGINA!"

I blinked back to reality. The first thing I saw was the bright pink light of Sowel's body fluttering in my face. Then Ganondorf was there, cradling me like a small child. We were in some kind of cave. Sand covered the ground, the air was cold and dry, and everything was dark except for the fairy. "What happened?" I asked while trying to get up. "Where are we? Where're Zel-?" The moment I was on my feet, I swayed and fell back down.

A hand under each arm helped me back up. "Save your strength." Ganondorf propped me up against the cavern wall. "You've been through hell and back today."

"What happened?" I asked again.

There was a deep breath. "You fell off the side of Skyloft. I was able to catch you before we broke the clouds."

"Lucky you still had that sailcloth!" Sowel interrupted, obviously trying to change the subject, deflate the situation. "Anyway, we seem to have landed in Lanayru Desert, just north of the old mines. Zelda and the others on Skyloft won't be able to come after us until morning; their Loftwings can't fly at night."

I didn't process what she said; my mind was on other things. "There's something else, isn't there?"

The cave became uncomfortably silent. Ganondorf shifted in discomfort. "Child-."

"TELL ME!" I was on the verge of tears, but I couldn't… I couldn't.

A heavy sigh. My phone suddenly appeared in his hand. "Another message from Ghirahim."

I ripped the damn thing out of his hand, unlocked it, opened the message app…. I read it allowed.

"My hate… never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle no end. I will rise again." I started to chock up a bit. "T-those like you… those who share the B-Blood of the Goddess and the Spirit of the Hero… they are forever bound to this Curse." A shaky breath. "An incarnation… of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, d-dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness… f-for all time."

The moment I read the last word, a new message popped up.

'Sound familiar?'

"Demise's last words," Ganondorf muttered. I looked at him, holding back tears.

"Our last words."

He took a seat next to me. After that, silence. We didn't know what to make of this, what to do. Tired, I leaned my head on his shoulder, she took a seat on mine. "What are we?" I asked him.

"…I don't know."

"…What now," she asked me.

"…I don't know."

At some point, we just fell asleep, still wondering.

* * *

...Well that took a turn for the angsty! What genres did I have this story set to again?

Regina: *busts down the door* Adventure and humor, Bitch!

Ganondorf: *walks in and drags Regina back into the break room*

...That happened

Danzha?- Understand?

Paesh- Fuck

Anyway, tiny announcement:

My personal schedule will become a bit tighter as time progresses, so as of today, once I post both this chapter and one for Many Unexpected Things, I will start to impose an update schedule (mostly for myself). Every week on Friday, I will post a maximum of two chapters, said chapters varying on what I have completed at the time. The schedule itself will come into complete effect as of next Sunday.

Now that that's out of the way, back to my crazy life! CT


	7. Chapter 6: Bonding

Chapter 6: Bonding

I woke to the sun in my face and the sound of strumming.

 _There's a whole other conversation going on_

 _In a parallel universe_

 _Where nothing breaks and nothing hurts_

Once the sleep left my eyes, I found the source to be Regina's …what had she called it? A phone? Anyways, a song of sorts seemed to be produced by it, a lament or serenade. Regina herself was lying on her stomach in the middle of the cave, writing something down in a large journal. Seemingly dissatisfied with her work, there was a loud rip as she tore the page of parchment from the journal, crumpled it, and tossed it behind her to join a pile of others.

"You're finally awake." The whisper came from his shoulder. Sowel seemed a bit antsy. "Oh, thank goodness. It's been terrible!"

"How long has she been up?" I whispered back.

"Regina woke up a couple of hours ago and started listening to that vulgar music! Oh, how can you sleep through such a terrible thing?"

J _ust beam me up_

 _Give me a minute, I don't know what I'd say in it_

 _Probably just stare, happy just to be there holding your face_

Vulgar music, eh? If the fairy wanted vulgar, she should listen to any bard from my day and age.

"Child." I finally made myself known.

She paused in her note taking and looked at me. "Top of the morning to ya!" She sat upright, tapping the glass of her phone; the serenade was abruptly stopped. "How'd you guys sleep?"

That was strange.

"You shouldn't be listening to such things, Regina!" Sowel flew up and shouted in her face. "Especially when others are sleeping nearby!" The fairy turned to me again. "Oh, it was simply horrible! Some woman belting out how she wants to punch her lover in the face, then calling herself a slut!"

"Sowel, do you even know what a slut is?"

"Well, I-…no."

"I have a vague idea," I commented.

"Anyway, you guys hungry?" Regina reached for her pack and began digging through. "I don't know if it's still good, but I have some of my lunch that I didn't eat yesterday." She pulled out a cloth bag, half-crawled half-dragged herself over to me, and empty the contents onto the floor. "Let's see, half a Ham and Swiss Sandwich, a bag of M&M's, and two bananas.… Actually, scratch that, the bananas are mine." She grabbed the fruits while I gave the "sandwich" a try. It was nothing too spectacular, but food was food; Goddess knew when they'd find more of it. Sowel had laid claim over the "M&M's", but was having trouble opening the bag.

"Now," I said as I finished the sandwich. "What's this all about?"

The girl paused before she'd taken a bite out of her second banana. "What do you mean?"

"We just found out that we're the products of some ancient curse and here you are, acting like it never happened."

"…." She took her bite and looked away for a brief moment. There was a sort of wall hidden in her eyes, one separating the outside world from something on the inside. "So we're little demon babies. So what? We deal, we move on with our lives."

I nodded after a moment. It was a rare skill to have, being able to cover up how one was truly feeling so well, however unhealthy it could be.

"Speaking of which," Regina spoke after finishing her fruits. "The title has to come with some kind of magic power, right?"

"…Yes?"

"I mean, it's gotta be pretty cool to just magically poof stuff in an out of existence. And you've got a lot of experience with it, too, judging from your age alone."

"Get to the point, Child."

She was suddenly right in my face, smiling sweetly and eyes wide. "Teach me magic please?"

"No." I didn't even have to think about it.

Her violet glasses slid partially down her nose when she huffed. "Oh come on! Give me one good reason why not!"

"I'll give you three. One, you may not actually have the potential to even practice magic. Two, the type of magic that I would be able to teach is not for an immature girl like you to be practicing, regardless of this curse. And three, in case you haven't noticed, there's a sadistic Demon Lord hunting us and I can't concentrate on escaping him and teaching you at the same time!"

She stood to full height (which in truth was only slightly taller than my sitting form). "Counterpoint! One, we don't know FOR SURE, so I could be able to do it. Two, I can be mature if I want to! Three, the fact that Ghirahim's after us is exactly why I should learn this stuff!"

Regina did have a point with that last one. If she had at least some knowledge of the Art, she would be able to better defend herself whenever Ghirahim decided to appear again. However, this was Dark Magic they were dealing with, and the Gerudo within me wanted to keep her far away from that shadowy path. But then-.

A loud rip interrupted my thoughts. "I got to the M&M's!" Sowel announced, now inside the small bag. "Oh, so sweet!" A couple of brightly colored pebbles spilled out onto the sand as the pink fairy poked her small head out. "Want some?…Am I interrupting something?"

Regina looked to me again, face contorting into a pout. I heaved a sigh. "I promise I'll think about it."

"…I guess that's as good as it's gonna get."

"Well then…." I stood, brushing away any sand remaining on myself. "Sowel, finish eating your… M&M's. Regina, pack your things and-." I noticed the girl still looking at me expectingly. "…What more do you want?"

"So there's this assignment that we have to do for my history class where we have to come up with a conquest scenario, like, where we have to-."

"Yes, I know what a conquest is."

"Well, I was thinking if we're gonna be hanging out together for a while, and we don't have anything better to do, maybe I can get my homework done. I got all my other stuff done, I just need to do this. And what better time to do it when I've got a bone fide expert here!"

"What makes you think I'm an expert?"

"You wrote down on the Venn Diagram that you were a king, you were afraid of powerful people knowing your name, and you were nearly executed for "differing political views. I'm gonna have to say war criminal.…No offense."

"None taken. Very nice deduction."

The girl beamed. "So…?"

Another sigh. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. As long as you can write on the move."

"Yes, sir!"

"Finish packing up."

Regina rushed to her belongings in the center of the cave and righted the pack. In went the smaller bag once filled with food, then the papers tossed away previously, then… the phone. A thought suddenly crossed my mind. Ghirahim had been able to send us messages this whole time; one of the first ones was followed closely by a horde of Bokoblins. Could the Demon Lord…? She was about to put the bag's over her shoulder. "Wait."

She gave me a questioning look. "Yeah?"

"Allow me." I stretched my hand out to her. There was brief pause before she handed over her bag, the only things left in her hand being her sketchbook and a pencil. A flick of my wrist and the bag was sent away. "Is that all of it?"

"That sho-…where's Sowel?"

After a fair bit of scrambling, we found her passed out in the now empty M&M's bag. Sugar crash, Regina said it was.

* * *

I stood hidden on top of the ledge as the the pack of Bokoblins searched the cave. My hunch had been correct; Ghirahim was indeed attempting to track them through Regina's phone. However, he shouldn't be able to do it now that it was tucked inside my personal pocket dimension. I left the Bokoblins to their devices; they'd never find a trace of them, I'd made sure of that. Regina and Sowel were a short distance away, just where I had left them (the fairy was still in the midst of her sugar crash on Regina's shoulder). "Let's move on," I said as I kept walking.

"You get what you needed?" Regina asked, following close behind.

"Yes." I didn't tell them about the phone; no need to worry either of them for the moment. "So, what do you have so far?"

"Huh?"

"Your assignment."

"Oh, right. Well, we have a castle with some soldiers."

"And?"

"…That's it."

I fought the urge to face palm. "Okay then…. What sorts of soldiers does this castle have?"

"…Archers? Maybe sword fighters? Guys on horses?"

"How many of each?"

"I guess a thousand. No, five thousand!"

"Good. Now, who do they protect?"

"A king."

"How old is the king?"

"Why does that-?"

"Watch yourself!" I halted her just before she stepped on a Chuchu. A second later, the little blob discharged electricity throughout its body. After the discharged, it seemed to deem us uninteresting and slithered away.

"…I really shouldn't be surprised by this shit."

I nodded, then we continued. "Now, what was I saying?"

"Why does it matter how old the king is?"

"It matters greatly. If the king is too old, he can be too frail in a battle. If the king is too young, he is prone to deception. A well balanced king is to be courageous, wise, and powerful, so around this late thirties would be least ideal for overthrowing." At least, that's the theory behind it. No king is perfect, after all.

"…So, if I wanna avoid too much death, I should opt for the young king."

"Correct. Also, if he is very young, it may be too soon for him to produce an heir, making a usurping much more seamless."

"A lot of factors go into this sort of thing, huh?"

"True. When planning a conquest, one must take into account the opposing kingdom's size, population, history, current politics, armies, economy-."

"Okay, stop, you're making my head hurt." Regina stopped walking, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. Making most of the time stopped, I planned out our route. The desert we stood in at the moment was filled with ruins and other obstacles. Sowel had mentioned that there was an old mine back to the South where they came from, but Ghirahim's Bokoblins were probably swarming the place by now. Further ahead to the north was some sort of temple surrounded by quicksand. I could have crossed on my own, but that would be difficult with Regina here. I also didn't want to use magic unless absolutely necessary, in case the Demon Lord could find us through it's residue. North was out. East seemed to hold a volcanic region, probably full of hiding spots as well as ash, smog, and other obstacles that would make tracking very difficult. However, it would also make traversing it in the first place difficult, especially for the girl, so East was out. That left West. The symbol of the Triforce stood high above the horizon, held by the crest of Hylia. A sacred place. Perhaps one that could provide aid in returning home, or at the very least sanctuary from Ghirahim.

"West it is."

"What was that?" Regina was next to me suddenly, causing me to jump. "I know, I need a bell, my brothers tell me that all the time."

"I didn't say anything." Instinctively, I put a hand on her shoulder and pointed toward the crest. "Do you see that? In the distance?"

"Yeah, it's your triangle tattoo."

"That's our destination."

"Alrighty then, let's-a go!"

As we continued down the path, the assignment continued as well. "So, once upon a time, 12 year old King Tom was crowned when his dad died. He was assigned a chancellor to help take care of him and his kingdom, a relatively small one in both land mass and population that specialized in crop and cattle farming. While small, King Tom had a well trained army consisting of 500 archers, 1,000 horsemen, and 2,000 swordsmen."

"And what about your forces?"

"I am covertly leading a group that is unhappy with how things are being run. Taxes are high and we've had multiple bad seasons, leaving us hungry and poor while King Tom doesn't notice and his chancellor helps himself to our diminished resources." I was surprised with how professional she sounded. She continued. "I myself am counted among the semi-wealthy middle class while most of my followers are middle and lower class, about 1,000 farmers, 500 merchants, and 200 classified others."

"A coup de tat."

"I like to think of it as a revolution. My history teacher used to say something like "revolution occurs when the government fails to meet the needs of the governed", or something like that. Translation: someone's gotta look out for the little guy."

"Yes, I…I suppose that's true." I found myself glancing down, my left hand gripping the right, the Triforce of Power glimmering slightly in the sun. Looking out for the little guy. Wasn't that what I was doing. No, it's what I'd agreed to do. Look out for those oppressed by the Kingdom, avenge those who had already been trampled, find a way to restore what was lost. That's why I needed those other pieces; to bring them back, to make sure that no one else had to loose their people, their entire culture. Right?

"You okay?" The question brought me back to reality.

"Y-yes, I'm fine."

"Okay, let's go then, Grampadork!" Regina tugged at my arm just as a child would their mother. I couldn't help a chuckle; she really was a strange child.

"Right away, Doodlebug."

I laughed at her growl.

* * *

Road trip, grandma, sucky internet, aaahhh!

Regina: Are you okay?

JUST PEACHY.

Regina:...right. *creeps back into the break room

...I'm going to bed.


	8. Chapter 7: Son of a Bitch

Chapter 7: Son of a Bitch

When we were close to our destination, Sowel finally recovered from her sugar crash. "Uhh, what happened?"

"Well, apparently you ate a whole bag of M&M's and passed out," I answered.

She immediately perked up. "You don't have any more, do you?!"

"Even if I did, there's no way in Hell I'm giving you any more!"

"Girls," Ganondorf said calmly from up ahead. "If we could continue, please."

"Aye aye, Captain." We'd spent nearly the whole day walking to this alter place. It was hot, my feet were tired, and I was barely surviving on the few sips of water the guy had offered me (conjuring it out of the blue, then telling me to ration what we had). Fortunately, I managed to get the write up for my project done; now all I needed to do was draw the comic for the extra credit, but I could still do that later. Mr. Chalanick was gonna be sorry for making that deal when I turn this bad boy in!…Assuming I'd be there to turn it in. Now that I thought about it, everyone would probably be wondering where I was. Zoe and her stupid boyfriend would have no one to to torment at her Halloween Party, Mom would probably have called the police, Josh and Sammy would be freaking out. Then again, I was back somewhere in the past, so maybe not? But back on the one hand, how long would I be stuck here? Days, weeks, years? Oh God, I what if I never got back? What if-?

I tripped on my own foot and fell flat on my face.

"Um, are you alright?" Sowel asked when I didn't get up right away.

"I'm fine, just confused by my own stupidity."

Ganondorf must have doubled back when I fell because I was suddenly hoisted up in the air by two large hands under each arm and brought face to face with a dark face and a pair of yellow eyes. "Care to explain the source of your distraction?" He wasn't exactly grilling me; he seemed more amused than frustrated. For whatever reason, that just pissed me off.

"I tripped and fell. Nothing more to it than my own klutziness."

"Don't bother lying to me, Doodlebug."

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that?"

"So your allowed to call me demeaning nicknames and I can't return the favor? Just tell me what's wro-."

"Oh for fuck's sake, put me down and leave me be! You're not my dad, so stop trying to be!" I immediately wished I could take that back. Ganondorf set me down, not taking his eyes off me. Sowel hesitantly fluttered back to my shoulder. I just crossed my arms and stared at the ground in a silent tantrum. I had to get myself back under control. There were more important things to worry about. "Sorry I'm so pissy. I'm just… tired and hot and I'm wondering when I'll get home."

For a second, I thought I felt a tiny hand on my cheek. "No worries," Sowel said in my ear. "We don't begrudge you for it. Right, Agahnim?" I looked up at him, still wondering why he hadn't bothered to tell he his real name.

Ganondorf nearly mirrored my posture, sighing heavily and nodding. "…I won't press."

Damn right you won't, I thought to myself. No way was I gonna relive that chapter of my life again. Just when I'd finally gotten over it, too.

"Anyway, we're here."

I immediately looked up. Past his shoulder and a grey wall, the large symbol we'd seen earlier stood tall. Up ahead was an alter of some sort, ruined after such a long time. I passed him and through the archway at the alter's entrance. Besides a narrow bridge crossing a bottomless chasm and a few broken pillars on the other side, there wasn't too much to see, but it was still pretty cool to see. I wish I'd had my phone and it's camera, but I just have to remember it fir when I try to sketch it out later. "What is this place?"

Sowel was the one to answer. "This is the Temple of Time. Or, at least, it used to be."

"That can't be," Ganondorf muttered from behind us. He was looking around the place in disbelief. "The Temple of Time looks nothing like this. Not in my time. It's not even in the same location."

"Maybe this is a different Temple?" I offered.

"That must be."

"As I was saying," the fairy continued. "According to Lady Faron, this place once held one of the Gates of Time. Unfortunately, it was destroyed around the time Ghirahim was running around several months ago."

"…Did you say one of two Gates?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Is the other Gate still around?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you know where it is?" Ganondorf asked her, catching on.

"Yeah, why?"

I gave her a look, one that said 'are you kidding me with this stupidity'. The fairy suddenly gasped. "Oh, I know why! That's your way back home!"

"So where is the Gate?"

"Well it's-."

A beeping noise echoed through the ruins. "Hey, this is Regina. You know the drill, leave a message after the beep. Beep. I froze. That was my voicemail. Another voice followed. "Honestly, where the hell are you two?! Why aren't you responding?! Ugh!" Footsteps from the other side of the wall. Ganondorf grabbed me and Sowel and one poof of purple smoke later, we were hiding behind a pillar on the other side of the bridge, watching as you know who stomped through the archway, completely pissed. "These humans go through all the trouble of creating a small box that can track and call someone from the other side of the Earth, but the damned thing doesn't even work all the time?!" There was a crack as Ghirahim, in the midst of a temper tantrum, threw a phone of his own against the ground, shattering the screen and cracking the red and black diamond case. A flurry of (guess what) diamonds later, he was on the other side of the bridge among the pillars. We all had to silently scramble not to be seen. I poked my head out briefly to see Ghirahim huffing and puffing to himself. After a few uneventful minutes, he finally managed to calm himself down, snapping his fingers and making the phone appear in his hand, good as new. Ganondorf pulled me back behind the pillar before I was spotted, nearly crushing me in his arms. Talk about Papa Bear Mode. "Still," I heard Ghirahim mutter. "Not all of their little inventions are completely useless. For example…."

There was a loud bang, something whizzed passed my face and embedded itself in the far wall with a crack. I couldn't contain my scream and despite Ganondorf clamping a hand over my mouth, it was clear we had been discovered. "You might as well come out now, my darlings." There was nothing we could do. Ganondorf let me go, Sowel lifted off my shoulder, and we all walked out into the open. Ghirahim smirked, a gun of all things pointed right at us. "To think I would find you here, my personal retreat, of all places. I usually come here to clear my head, put a smile on my face after a stressful day, but finding my darlings here in one piece here just puts a little rainbow in my heart."

"You really need a hobby, Spandex," I said without thinking.

The Demon Lord's eye twitched for a second before chuckling, making the gun dissipate into (guess what) diamonds at the same time. "Not even your crude nicknames can rain on my parade right now, Little Queen."

"Let's see if this will." Ganondorf was suddenly behind him, sword swinging downward. Ghirahim summoned a sword instantly and blocked the attack with ease. "Now, I should warn you two, attacking me may not be in your best interest. And before you say why," he raised a finger, stopping my question. "You see, their's a little piece of leverage that you might want to know about." He snapped his fingers and a large res creature appeared. It shared the same bulldog like face the Bokoblins had, but it was five times the size. In its hands…. I was frozen, mind racing.

"Weggie!"

"Regina!"

In one hand, Josh was struggling to free himself from the monster's grasp. In the other, little Sammy was dangling in the air by his jacket. "S-Sammy? Josh?" I was on the verge of tears. The bastard really had taken my brothers. Fear and sadness quickly turned into rage; my hands clenched into fists, I could barely hold myself back from shouting. "You son of a bitch." Moments later, I found myself charging at Ghirahim. "LET THEM GO RIGHT NOW!"

"Child, no!"

Ghirahim disappeared. I barely dodged Ganondorf's sword as it came crashing down, nothing holding it back. My back slammed into one of the pillars. Ghirahim was in front of me. He grabbed my wrist in one hand, forcing my it next my head. "I know I said you were needed unspoiled, but I don't think my Master will grieve over a bit of blood shed."

My vision clouded. My hand throbbed with the worst pain I had ever felt. My other hand grasped blindly at something next to my head. It eventually found the hilt of a dagger and wrenched it from the palm of my right hand. As I slumped to the ground, still blinded, I could just barely hear my brothers screaming for me, the clashing of metal, the crackle of magic in the air, Sowel shouting for me. When my vision began to return, I nearly puked at the sight of my mangled and bleeding hand. I looked up. Ganondorf was fighting Ghirahim, swing the sword this way and casting a spell that way, just to keep him away from me. Sowel fluttered in front of my face, still trying to reach me. At some point, everything began to fade into black. I fought back against it. I couldn't pass out now! I had to protect them, all of them! I-I had to… had to….

 **So, you're finally ready to accept your full potential.**

A blinding flash went off in my eye. I felt myself jolt up instantly, gripping the knife in my injured hand. I rushed forward and stabbed at something. The thing fell to the ground, but I went down with it and continued to stab it. After a while, I felt someone grab me from behind; I struggled and screamed, but then the light faded. I immediately recognized Josh's worried face. Sammy was right next to him, just as scared. Sowel fluttered just above my little brother's head, talking at me. I was in a daze, wondering what had just happened. I looked over to my right. Ghirahim was clutching his face, rolling on his back, screeching in utter agony. I heard a roar. Past my brothers, what seemed to be a large boar finished off the big Bokoblin-like creature. I forced myself to stand, looking straight at the beast. It looked right at me. I instantly recognized its golden eyes.

Ganondorf stepped closer and shook his head, a signal of sorts to get on. Still dazed, I picked up Sammy and climbed onto his back, Josh and Sowel reluctantly following me. Once we were all on, he broke into a run. The wind blew through and messed up my short hair and forced my glasses closer to my face. Josh shook my shoulder, but I barely acknowledged him. All I could see was the glowing, X-shaped gash that stained my palm. It was the last thing I saw as I passed out for the third time this entire ordeal.

* * *

 _I glanced out the car window, still jittery from the excitement and smiling. My first school art show had been a complete success. My colored pencil drawing of a peacock had been hanging for all the students and parents to see and now, as I held onto it carefully, it had a little blue sticker on the matted frame. The sticker signified my first place win over all the other sixth graders. The look on snobbish Zoe's face had been hilarious. "First place, first place, first place," I whispered to myself._

 _"Keep saying that and you'll be just as snobby as that peacock," Josh said from the seat next to mine._

 _"Peacocks aren't snobby!" I shouted back at him. "They don't care what people say! They show off what they have to the world!" My smile grew and turned to the driver. "That's what you said, right Daddy?"_

 _Daddy laughed. "That's right, Doodlebug."_

 **Why?**

 _I giggled at my correctness. I had a sudden thought and my smile fell. "I wish Mama was here."_

 _A sigh. "You know Mama isn't allowed to move around right now. It might hurt your brother."_

 _"Hmph. Stupid baby."_

 _"Now, is that any way for a big sister to talk?"_

 _"No, it's not."_

 **Why?**

 _"You'll see. Having Sammy around won't be so bad. You can teach him about drawing or, Josh, you could play basketball with him when he gets older. You two'll have to help Mama take care of him."_

 _"And you can help too, Daddy!"_

 _"…Yes, I'll help too."_

 _I beamed and continued to stare at my colored pencil peacock. For a second, I tried to imagine what it'd be like to be one of those massive birds, big, beautiful tail held out for all the world to see, not caring if some people didn't like it._

 **Why are you showing me this?**

 _The car stopped._

 _Daddy shut off the engine and turned in his seat. "Daddy needs to do something, but I'll be right back. Please stay in the car, okay?"_

 _"Okay!" my brother and I said at the same time. Daddy left the car and I went back into my head. I thought I heard the trunk open and shut too, but I ignored it. I had another thought, and I prepared myself to ask Daddy when he got back if we could get a peacock._

 **Because, no matter what you do or what you say, it happened.**

 _A train whistled outside the car._

 _That was the last time I saw him._

* * *

If you look back at Skyward Sword, Demise has an X-shaped scar on his forehead. Now, if you look at Twilight Princess's Ganondorf, he sports a similar scar after he is nearly executed. Coincidence? I think not, Nintendo? It seems fitting tat Regina now has her own scar.

Also, this week has been a bit hectic, so there'll only be one update this week. Don't worry, as I'll have two next week, I promise!

Have a happy new year!


	9. Chapter 8: Aftermath

Chapter 8: Aftermath

So, in the end, we did come to the volcanic region in the East. If only the circumstances weren't as volatile. Once I was sure we were far enough away, I managed to undo my sudden transformation and set up a makeshift camp, from a small fire to a warding spell all around us. The small cliffside near the summit of the mountain offered little in the ways of protection, but the nearby spring would keep us all well hydrated for the time being. The two boys were hiding away from me in the corner, the younger one crying as the elder tried his best to comfort him. Regina was still unresponsive, curled up against the rock face and staring at nothing, clutching Ghirahim's dagger in hand. I myself was still in a state of high adrenaline from my transformation. For now, there was nothing to do but to wait for Sowel's return. As if on cue, the pink fairy fluttered into the fire light. "Only a few Chuchus and Keese nearby. No sign of Ghirahim or his lackeys."

"That's good to here." Once I heard this, I finally allowed myself to sit down. "What can you do for her?"

"A small sigh. "Not much, I'm afraid. My healing power really only extends to physical injuries."

"What about the mark?"

"That may be Demise's doing. I mean, you have the exact same mark on your own chest. If both of you are truly his incarnates, then it doesn't surprise me that she gained a mark of her own."

There was a mutter from one of the boys, causing me to look back over at them. It was hard to tell that they were even related to Regina: while she was paler with raven hair and green eyes, her brothers had a bit more color to their skin and had brown hair with eyes to match it. The younger (Sammy was it?) was still crying softly while the older (I believe it was Josh) glared at him, which I returned with, for lack of a better term, a blank look. "What?"

"I said. What. Did you do. To my sister."

"I did nothing to her. I'm trying to help her."

"Bullshit."

"Joshie!" The younger boy ceased his crying to shout up at his brother. "Mama says no cwursin'."

"…Sorry, Sammy."

"You hafta say sowwy to…to…." Sammy looked over at me, tears no longer welling in his eyes. Despite protests, the boy pulled away from his older brother and attempted to creep towards me (which ended up being an awkward waddle). The boy also attempted a squint of his own when he got close enough, which looked a bit exaggerated and ridiculous on the face of a toddler. "Whower you?" Sammy asked, pointing a small finger at me.

I will admit that it took all of my willpower to not find this tiny child adorable (or, at least, not let it show that I found him so).

"My name is Ganondorf."

"Ga... Gan... Ganny!"

Resist it, resist it! "Close enough. Now, I was-."

"Wait!" Sowel was suddenly hovering in my face. "I thought your name was Agahnim. I'm so confused…."

Was the fairy truly that dense?" That was an alias I gave to your former mistress. I was worried that giving my true name would be cause for alarm. I didn't bother to correct you in case you would betray Regina and I. Now I see that you're too dense to even consider betraying us."

"Aww, thank you! I'm glad to see you trust me."

I rested my case and went back to the original topic. "As I was saying, I was kidnapped by Ghirahim for the same reason as your sister."

"Which is?" Josh inquired, shifting away from the rock face.

"We still aren't entirely sure. However, it may have something to do with an ancient being known as Demise." I recounted the events of the last two days. From our meeting after the kidnapping to our escape from Skyloft to our eventual realization of what we were. Sammy looked up at me with a child like wonder, as if listening to a regular fairytale. Josh eventually found himself next to his brother, deep in thought. Regina remained as she was.

When I had finished my story, none of the children knew how to respond. After what felt like an eternity, Josh broke the silence. "This… it's a bit hard to swallow. I mean, my little sister is supposed to be some kinda antichrist? How am I supposed to-."

"Can Weggie fly?"

Sammy interrupted with an unexpected question. I had to think for a moment about my response. "Can she fly?…I do not believe so."

"What kinda powews does she have? Is she gonna be a supewhewo like Spidewman? That would be so aw…aw…."

"Awesome?" Josh finished his word.

"Yeah!"

Well, that was one way to make the most of a situation. I wasn't entirely sure who or what this "Spiderman" was, but it was sweet that the boy was more accepting than some of the people I've come to know over the course of my life. A superhero, huh? I'd have to ask Regina about that later. That is, if she came back into awareness.

There was a quiet hum and a slight shift in the corner of my eye. I tensed as I turned toward the source of it, preparing for an attack, but to my relief, the girl in question had returned to us. "Sammy?" Regina groaned, rubbing her head. The boy squealed and rammed into her, ready for a hug. Josh soon followed in the hug and I had to stop Sowel from joining them; "This is a family matter," I told her. I smiled as the children almost toppled over in the embrace, laughing and crying all at the same time. It wasn't until a few minutes later that Regina decided she'd had enough…and that I noticed something. "Okay, okay, you're starting to crush me now."

"Sorry," Josh said as they all got back up. "Hey, where'd the dress come from?"

"Technically, I stole it."

"I was just about to say pink is not your usual color."

"Don't remind me."

"Child," I finally decided to interrupt.

Regina immediately looked up. "Oh hey. Sorry, I kinda forgot you were here."

"No need for that. Perhaps you could humor me and drop the knife?" In truth, the girl was still gripping the knife she had been stabbed with. The same knife that she had then used on Ghirahim. She had only just come to that realization herself. The smile given to her by her brothers was now gone as she stared down at the knife.

"…Oh, yeah. The knife." I could see the twitch in her hand as she struggled to open her hand. When I felt she couldn't bring herself to do it, I moved from my spot and assisted her. It was more difficult than it should have been, but I eventually peeled away her firm grip on the knife and tossed the thing aside. The glowing mark that she received earlier was revealed.

"I guess it's not a dream then."

"…No."

I will never know what caused her to do it, but she took her hand and pressed the mark onto my own. I couldn't describe the feeling in my gut as both mark glowed a bit brighter; it wasn't painful, nor pleasurable, just… warm. We stayed like this for what felt like an eternity, the brothers watching their sister nervously, Sowel settling on my shoulder. Just as unexpectedly, Regina shook herself out of whatever stupor she was in and pulled away. "Okay, that's enough inner turmoil for one day. You hungry, Sammy?" The boy immediately beamed and nodded violently. "Ganondorf, got anything in that pocket dimension of yours?"

She had done this just this morning as well. She was ignoring the issue, placing her focus and energy on something else. First she used her project as a distraction, now her brothers…. That would have to be a subject of discussion for another time.

"Well…." I closed my eye for about five seconds or so, just enough time for me to do a brief inventory. I cursed myself for not remembering I had some of these things. With a flick of my wrist, I summoned some of the items and placed them on the ground near the fire. "Five pouches of dried fruit and meat, a few pouches herbs and mushrooms, and four canteens of water."

"'Scuse me." I felt something tug at my arm; that something was Sammy. "Do you have chocla' miwk?"

"…Do I have what?"

"Chocolate milk," Josh answered for me.

"Ah. Let's see…." Another brief inventory. "I'm not sure about 'chocolate' milk, but I believe I have a bottle of Lon Lon Milk." I summoned the bottle and, hoping it hadn't spoiled, handed it to the boy. For the next few minutes the boy fiddled with the bottle, shaking the liquid inside and attempting to take the cork out. Eventually, Josh reached over and opened up the bottle for him, the sweet fragrance of its contents wafting into the air. The toddler seemed cautious at first, then took a small sip. His eyes immediately went wide and he tried to down the whole bottle. Before anyone could stop him, what ended up happening was he upended the bottle; the milk spilled all over himself and dropping the glass on his head. There was a moment of silence before Sammy started bawling.

"Oh boy," Regina mumbled before reaching over to help the crying toddler. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Let's get you cleaned up."

"OW!"

"Whoops, sorry."

"Here, allow me," I offered. This spell would take a little more effort on my part. I placed a hand on the boy's forehead and waved the other in a circle. A few moments later, the milk pulled itself from his clothes and hair and evaporated into nothing. The children looked on in awe (or in Regina's case simple interest). Sammy eventually let out a small giggle before pouting again. "I still godda boo boo."

Regina smiled and kissed the top of his forehead. "Better?"

"Kinda."

A laugh. Then the girl went stiff. Her eyes were wide and she became even paler. "He… he's talking."

"What?" Josh and I said in unison.

"Shh!" She seemed to retreat into her mind for a few seconds. "…Can I have my sketchbook and a pencil?"

An odd request, but I complied. She took the items from my hand as soon as they were summoned and started writing something down… no, not writing, drawing. I soon saw a simple sketch of some sort of stuffed animal, perhaps a bear. She set down the pencil when she was done, then put her hand on the drawing. What happened next stunned us all.

She pulled the drawing from the book.

We all stared at the toy that had suddenly solidified before our very eyes, the same white and grey as the paper and pencil markings. Even Regina, who had performed the action, was shocked. "…Here, Sammy." She gave the toy to her younger brother. He inspected it carefully (as carefully as a toddler can do so) before hugging it tightly. "He's just like Spidey."

A tense silence filled the air before I asked my question. "How did you know you could do this?"

She looked me right in the eye, emerald eyes framed by wide violet glasses. "I didn't. He did."

I didn't need her to tell me who "he" was.

* * *

The rest of that evening passed in relative silence. We all ate what we could and the children went to sleep. I took the watch for the rest of the night, contemplating. I had noticed a faint aura of magic from the girl when we'd first met, but the way she reacted when I mentioned the word told me that I had been mistaken. So why now had she begun to use it?

Within the hour of first thinking of that question, I knew its answer. You see, before I had been captured and sentenced, my bestial transformation had only been an idea, one that I had never been successful in. After the execution, after the mark, I was able to make a full transition seamlessly, through pure adrenaline none the less. It was safe to say that the mark provided a boost in power when properly… "awakened". I suppose that when Regina gained her scar, it offered just enough of a boost to actually perform a spell.

It all made sense in a twisted sort of way.

"Did you stay up all night?"

At first, I thought it was Regina, but when I turned to the source of the voice it was her older brother. "I've had many sleepless nights before, I can do it again."

"…Okay, man. You do you." The boy sat himself down beside me. If it were anyone else, I'd ask how dare they sit at my side without permission, but, considering what he and his siblings had gone through in just over a day, I let it slide.

"If I may ask, how did you and your brother find yourselves here?"

A sigh. "It's a bit hard to explain. Our car crashed and that creep took Reg, then he disappeared. I started looking around for them, but they were just gone. When I was about to call the police, I heard Sammy scream. Then I blacked out. When I woke up, there was this, like, big cloud of diamonds. Then we saw you two and we were in the hands of this big monster." Pause. "Okay, my turn to ask a question. Are you supposed to be Reg's… ancestor or something?"

"Not an ancestor, a past life. Supposedly, this Demon King that I mentioned before set in motion a chain of reincarnation."

"Oh." Another pause. "Jeez, all this shit happening to her… and just when I thought she'd finally gotten over-." He stopped himself from saying more, but I was too late; it had already peaked my interest.

"Gotten over what?"

"…"

"Over what, Boy?"

"…You can't tell her I said this."

Finally, some answers.

"The thing is it's… it's about our dad."

"Your father?"

A nod. "Sammy hadn't been born yet and me, I was… well, I was a Mama's boy. But Reg and Dad, they were really close. He'd always stay at home while Mom worked, and Reg would follow him all around the house. They shared a lot of things, did everything together. Then…. When we were 11 and 12, things started happening. Mom and Dad started fighting, Mom would work later hours, and Dad started to become disconnected from us. Finally, one day, he just left. He left us in the car and hopped on the next train out of town."

"I…I see." Considering my background, the concept of a father had always been difficult to understand. Nonetheless, I can understand the pain of having someone so close to you abandoning you.

"When we found out, she was the most upset. She was screaming and kicking the car and ripping up a picture she had made. I was really worried for her. But then, the next day, she was acting really weird. She was always asking what she could do to help around the house, trying to look happy all the time. She didn't give herself any time to grieve or anything. It was like-."

"Like what?" Both of us turned to find Regina half awake, staring at us.

"Reg!" Josh stood abruptly. "I, uh-."

"He used to call me Doodlebug, you know," she said, looking right at me. "That's why I got so mad at you before."

All I could do was nod. She hid it from her face well, but her eyes betrayed the true pain in her story. That was the thing about one's eyes, the windows to the soul; they often lay bare the truth to those who knew ow to look.

"Sooo, now that we got that out of the way…."

Like right now for instance. Through her eyes, it was easy to see the shift in her mood and I suddenly knew what was coming next. Sure enough, I was face to face with a pair of begging eyes and a trembling lip. "Please teach me magic."

I heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. "As if I had a choice now."

"Yes!"

"On one condition!" She was immediately at attention. "You must be aware that magic is, if not anything else, tied to your emotions. Bottling them up or pretending you don't feel anything will not only cause damage to your health, it will limit the extent of your abilities. If I'm going to go through with this, you must accept that whatever happened, with your father, with Demise, and accept that it affected you. You truly must… how did you say it? Oh yes; deal, and move on."

She didn't respond at first. It seemed she didn't know how. I knew I struck some sort of nerve, but what I'd say was true; if she didn't break this habit, there will be consequences. "Fine," she finally said. "I'll try-."

"You will do it or you will not do it. There is no try."

"Fuck you, you don't even know where that comes from."

"Glad we've reached an understanding." I stood from my spot and summoned Ghirahim's discarded knife into my hand. "The blade that gave me my mark is the one I'm still using. It seems only fitting that the weapon that gave you yours is the one you use against your enemies. However…." In a similar manner as last night's spill, I held the blade in one hand and waved my other over it. Within moments, it began to change shape. Once the transformation was complete, I had a black paintbrush in my hand. "I believe this would suite an artist better," I finished, handing the brush over to Regina.

She fiddled with the object, a smirk growing on her face. "I can make a few tweaks."

I found myself mirroring her smirk. "So, shall we get started?"

* * *

Embrace the cuteness that is Sammy Adams. EMBRACE IT!

Anyway, Regina has finally "awakened" in a sense. The final round's about to begin. *cue evil laughter*

...

...

Okay, no one's going to interrupt my-

Regina: *bursts in from the break room* SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD IS GONNA RULE ME-

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-


	10. Chapter 9: We Will Laugh and Cry

Chapter 9: We Will Laugh and Cry

So, can someone explain to me how the hell all this turned from the Harry Potter movies' easy "swish and flick" method to trying to explain the fucking Kingdom Hearts timeline to anyone?

"My brain's hurting again."

"Bare with me for another minute, and I promise we'll get to the hands on things."

Too bad a minute felt like a hundred years. By now, it'd been two days since we started these magic lessons, four since we were kidnapped. Most of the training so far had been a bunch of lectures: all this talk about mana flow and magic types was hard to follow. Then there was all this stuff about stances and movements that just didn't make any sense. At this point, I was actually starting to miss Mr. Chalanick's lectures.

"Are you listening?"

I snapped upright. "Uh, yeah."

"Can you repeat what I just said then?"

"…No."

I could just tell Ganondorf was resisting the urge to facepalm. "As I was saying, magic relies on your mana, the essence that flows within your blood. The more mana you have and the better connection you have with it, the stronger your magic. What you have so blatantly refused to focus on was the situation concerning your mana. While you seem to have a fair amount of it in your blood, you have a rather poor connection to it. That's why you're using this." He gestured to the brush in my right hand. On instinct, I held it up as he continued. "Magic conduits, such as wands, scepters, or, in this case, your brush, are able to help you focus all of your mana in a single location: your hand. This will make it a bit easier to cast spells and such."

"Okay." I think I got it. I probably didn't but, hey, I just gotta think I can.

"Go Weggie!" Sammy cheered on from a couple of feet away. He had a comfy seat in Josh's lap for the time being with Sowel sitting on his head and the teddy bear I'd made clutched tightly in a hug. I don't like to admit it, but that bear still creeped me out. I mean, it looked and felt like a regular old stuffed animal but, even then, it still smelled like paint.

 **You may wish to pay attention.**

Don't pretend to care about what I do, I thought back to the voice in my head. Honestly, one little scratch on my hand and this fucker thinks he can just rattle on and on in my brain. I waved back at my brothers before turning my attention back to Ganondorf. "So, what next?"

"From the display you gave us the other night, your magic is based on trans-manipulation, or, putting it into simpler terms, changing something about an object, whether it be its location, shape, what it's made of, and so on. For now, let's start small." He knelt down and cupped my brush hand. "I want you to just focus on your brush. Imagine it as a different color or with some sort of mark."

"It doesn't matter what, right?"

"Do whatever comes to mind."

I knew just what I wanted to do.

Concentrating real hard (and telling Demise to fuck off again), I saw what I wanted and placed my free hand over the brush. A few seconds later, I removed my hand to see if it worked. I couldn't stop my laugh when I saw my success. The previously sleek, black brush now had a violet symbol on the handle: an uppercase "R" with the shorter leg tilting up at the end and going around in a little swirl.

"Any reason why you chose that?"

"Whenever I finish with an art piece, I put this in the bottom right corner of it. It's just my way of signing off on it, saying its my work."

I may have just imagined it, but I thought I saw Ganondorf crack a brief smile. "Alright. Now, let's think a bit bigger. Imagine the brush becoming something completely different. And only use your right hand this time."

"Got it." Now, what to do? I caught a quick glimpse of something. That weird glowing sword that he always kept on him. I remembered first seeing the sword, picturing all its features. Out of the corner of my eye, something black appeared in my hand. At first I was terrified, but then I realized that it was only enveloping my brush. The smell of paint filled the air as the black mass grew, forming a familiar shape. Moments later, the paint solidified and turned white. All I could think was how awesome this was: what had once been my little black paintbrush had become an exact replica of Ganondorf's sword, complete with a faint glow.

This time the big guy didn't try to hide his smile. "Impressive. You even got the markings right."

"Well, I DO have an eye for details," I laughed as I gave it an experimental swing. Despite its size, the paint sword wasn't as heavy as I suspected the original would've been. However, as it was still taller than me, I still somehow found a way to lose my balance mid-swing and fall on my face. I let go of the sword and the paint immediately fell apart and disappeared, revealing the little brush it had originally been. "I can feel you smiling," I muttered plainly into the dirt.

"You do have a habit of falling, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," I heard Josh say. "This is normal for her."

I sat myself up, turned towards my older brother, and pushed my glasses back up with my middle finger. "Hey Bushy Brow! How come the sword fell apart and the teddy bear's still here?"

"First of all, never call me that again," Ganondorf answered with a glare. "Second…I'm not sure. There are still many thing we don't know about the way your magic works. And there isn't anybody in known Hyrulean history to compare your magic style to."

"So I'm just a beautiful effing mystery to you?"

He squinted at me. "A mystery, yes. Beautiful? Eh, I'm afraid I don't find much attraction in twelve year old boys."

I slapped a hand to my chest and gaped in fake shock. "Oh, the salt! The pure and utter salt!" Josh, of course, was laughing his ass off, Sammy and Sowel catching the giggle fever. I calmed down a bit before finally picking myself up and responding. "Gee, I wonder what that says about Groose." I expected the comment would bring Ganondorf into the giggle fit with the rest of us. What actually happened…well, I think I broke him. He kinda just keeled over, wheezing and clutching his sides. Me, being the helpful friend/apprentice that I am, laughed even harder. Everybody was just in this big giggle fit for about ten minutes before we could calm down enough.

"Alright, back to the lesson," Ganondorf said, a hint of a laugh still in his voice. "So, try drawing something, anything, with your brush as it is."

"Got it." I didn't have my sketchbook with me, but I had the wall. However, the wall was much bigger than my book, making my strokes a bit more awkward. And I wasn't even close to the wall; I was like three feet away, waving my brush and having black paint appear on the rock face. I tried to draw something simple (a butterfly), but my sad little scribble came into existence instead. "Sorry, it's kinda hard to tell where the brush is compared to where the paint's going."

"Oh, I can help!" Sowel was suddenly hovering in front of my face. "Let me just…." The little pink fairy tapped the tip of my brush then immediately flew away. "C'mon! Give it a wave!"

I did just that and couldn't help but laugh at the result. From a distance, Sowel followed the tip of my brush no matter which way I pointed it. Some mature people would think of it as some sort of targeting reticule, my mind immediately went to cat laser. It did end up helping my aim though. I tried out my butterfly again and, this time, the little doodle flapped its red stone colored wings once before taking off. "Definitely better, but still time consuming."

"Aw."

I hate to disappoint the fairy that had become useful for about two seconds, but it was a good point. If I was going to get into a fight, it's not like I could hit some kinda pause button just to draw something to protect myself with.

 **Why wait? You have a whole sketchbook full of weapons.**

Once again, I kindly ask you to shut the fu-…. Actually, that's not a bad idea. "Can I have my sketchbook please?"

Ganondorf gave me a quizzical look. "May I ask why?"

"I just wanna test something out."

The look persisted, but the sketchbook appeared in his hand and was handed to me. I flipped through its pages, looking for a good test subject. Finally, I came across a page where I had absentmindedly doodled the Four Element symbols from Avatar, still missing color. Making a mental note to color them in later, I pressed my brush down on the symbol for water, the bristles flattening and spreading across the paper. I took a deep breath, twisted my grip, and flick my brush across the paper outward. There was no black paint this time. Instead, a stream of water followed the tip of my brush out of my sketchbook as if it were a hose (destroying my little butterfly in the process) before hitting the ground. "Awesome."

"Well, it seems you hardly need my help for this."

I turned back to Ganondorf, putting on my best begging expression. "C'mon please? It's not my fault that Demise is giving me hints."

The man suddenly became visibly worried. "He's still talking to you?"

"Yeah, the trick is getting him to shut up."

 **I'm still here, you know.**

"Why do you ask? There a problem?"

He was frozen in thought for a moment. "No. It's nothing." You know, like a liar.

I gave him the 'I smell bullshit' look. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

I squinted. He squinted back.

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

"No."

"So you admit that there IS something wrong?"

"No. You're just putting words in my mouth."

Sammy was extremely confused. "What's wong?"

"Apparently Gramps here is keeping that to himself."

"You know what? Fine." Ganondorf finally had enough. He waved his hand, creating a little bubble around the both of us. Everything became alarmingly quiet. "Before you ask, it's a sound proofing spell. They can't hear us and we can't here them."

I looked over at Josh; he looked panicked. I gave him a thumbs up to tell him everything was alright before taking a seat on the ground. "Okay, so what's really bothering you?"

"I…." Ganondorf sat down as well, staring at the ground nervously. I hadn't seen him this uncomfortable since they were in Faron's throne room. "I've been untruthful about my own relations with Demise."

"Untruthful…how?"

"You see…." A sigh. "You see, I've always been able to hear him. Ever since I can remember, he's been there, whispering in my mind."

 **I can verify that.**

Seriously, dude. Shut up.

"Is he talking to you right now?"

"He's actually been silent as of late."

"Oh…." Pause. "There's something else, isn't there?"

"You're young and have your whole life ahead of you. It's…just a bit upsetting to see the Demon King twist another's life."

"What do you mean?"

"…You were right to assume I was a war criminal before. In the decades I've been alive, I have done many terrible deeds to the people of Hyrule. I've brought their kingdom to the brink of ruin more times than one can count. I've killed many who were deserving…and many who weren't, directly and indirectly. My…my own people were massacred, punished for my mistake. I will not try to place the blame of my actions onto him, but I will say this much. I would never have become the man I am today if it hadn't been for Demise."

When was the last time I'd seen an adult cry? I think it was when the police had called Mom over to the train station and told her what Dad had done. I remember how she covered her mouth, shaking and trying not to cry in front of her kids, one hand on her very pregnant stomach. I remember Josh too, hugging Mom, trying to offer her some comfort. I remember myself as well, my foot aching from kicking at Dad's car, staring down at my pencil drawing of a peacock with teary eyes before ripping it to pieces. I think that's when I decided I needed to take care of the family I had left. In order to do that, in order to make them feel better, I had to push aside my own heartache. Now I was sitting in front of a man, practically a stranger, who I'd been through hell and back with, and he was close to tears himself. Once again, I had to take care of someone; the difference was I had to accept my own feelings in order to do that.

And no, not romantic feelings. I'm a lesbian, remember?

 **I didn't say anything.**

You were thinking it

I found myself reaching forward and hugging him.

I felt him freezing up, but I just hugged him tighter. "When my Dad left, I was heartbroken. I felt like all the time we'd used to spend together, all the things he told me, were all lies. I told myself that it didn't matter how I felt about the whole thing, that it wouldn't change what happened. And now, it's happening all over again."

I felt a hand on my back. "And…how do you feel now? About all this?"

"I feel…angry. And sad. And scared."

"Scared of what?"

"How are things supposed to be normal again?"

"…I've asked myself that once too."

"…I guess we really just have to deal and move on."

I finally pulled away and saw his still-teary eyes, a smile on his face. "Well…oh, what's that old Hylian saying? Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here, we should dance."

"That's so cheesy," I said, wiping away a tear I didn't realize I had.

"Hylians ofter are."

"I'm glad I'm not a Hylian then. I'm enough of a shit lord already."

"Lord of shit? I may have to revoke your title. There are some I've known who're far more deserving of it."

We were laughing again. Everything was going wrong and it could've gotten worse, yet here we were, laughing our asses off all. I guess we both felt relieved to finally get this weight off our chests.

There was a knock on the bubble. Josh gave us both a confused look. Ganondorf immediately dropped the barrier with a flick of his wrist. "Sorry to disturb you guys, but the way you were looked like things were going…sexual?"

The big guy and I shared a look. Then, at the exact same time:

"Do I look like a pedophile to you?"

"Do I look like a heterosexual to you?"

Then we were giggling like the idiots we were all over again.

* * *

You know, Mom started taking me to a therapist after Dad left. The woman I saw (I actually forgot her name) was giving me all these activities, prescribing me all these useless medications, telling me what I already knew. She eventually gave up, as none of it did anything to change my mindset.

How weird that all that needed to happen for me to get over it was to get kidnapped by a Demon Lord.

"So, what's the plan now, Ganon?"

"Ganon?"

"Yeah, Ganon! Short for Ganondorf."

"…Definitely more appropriate than your other nicknames. And terrifyingly accurate." Roughly half an hour after our talk, Ganon had insisted on planning our next move concerning how to get home. There were two obstacles in our way, the first being the Gate of Time. Luckily, that was about to be solved. "Sowel, where is the second Gate of Time?" Ganon asked the tiny pink fairy.

"It's in the Sealed Temple, an old stone building just southwest of Faron Woods."

"You mean the building we were in when Ghirahim first brought us here?" I asked. We could've gone home right from the very beginning?

"His forces seemed to be setting something up just outside the Temple," Ganon added. "Which means that would be his base of operations."

"What's the game plan then, Coach?" Josh asked this time.

Ganon seemed confused for a second. "Coach?"

"Don't worry about him, he's a basketball nut."

"I see…. Anyway, Ghirahim is our main obstacle. We need to be crafty. I'd suggest we just slip past into the Gate if it was just the two of us, but your brother will make slipping past a bit more difficult…no offense."

"None taken."

"So we have to confront him?" This wasn't looking too good. It was already established that going toe-to-toe with the Lady Gaga impersonator was a challenge in and of itself.

"There's no other option. Luckily, we have the element if surprise. Ghirahim doesn't know about your magic yet. We can use that to your advantage."

"But what about Sammy and Josh? They can't fight and I don't know if we can play defense for them with him around."

"We can help."

Both Ganon and I jumped at the familiar voice. I found myself gripping my brush tightly, pointing it directly at, would you believe it, Zelda. Link stood just behind her, a sword with a purple hilt in his hand. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

"We've been looking for you." Zelda put her hands up. "It's alright, we won't hurt you. I know what we did back in Skyloft may have been brash and we didn't have all the facts-."

"Yeah, that's why you-!"

"Stand down, Regina." Ganon's hand was on my shoulder; the big guy didn't take his eyes off of the two pointy-eared bitches. "What do you suggest?"

Okay, so we're doing this.

 **Have fun, you two.**

I hate you.

* * *

As we creep closer and closer to the end...

Regina: you gonna finish that sentence?

Nope :p


	11. Chapter 10: First and Last

Chapter 10: First and Last

"Why the sudden change of mind?" I found myself asking the Hylian girl.

Zelda looked me right in the eye, almost sad. "I am Hylia reborn as a mortal. Just as Demise speaks to you, I can also hear the Goddess in my mind."

"And she's telling you to help us?"

"She says that you and Regina are necessary for balance to be maintained in the world. For there to be light, there must also be darkness. One cannot exist without the other."

So we were the lesser of two evils…. Fair enough. "So, what sort of help can we expect from you then?"

"Link and I have faced him before. We can hold off Ghirahim while you all-."

"No." Both of us turned to find Regina suddenly standing beside me. "Take my brothers and fly back to Skyloft." No one spoke for a few moments. Even Link, who had previously helping Josh make sure Sammy stayed in a good mood, stood and looked towards the girl. "Before you guys say anything, let me explain. Zelda, I know you and Link in particular don't trust us and, Josh, I know you're scared for me, but… Ghirahim is our problem now. Our demon. Ganon and I are the only ones who can deal with that problem."

I could see the logic behind this. Ghirahim- no, Demise was a demon that only the two of us could properly face. The two Hylians nodded, but Josh wasn't taking the plan as easily. "Reg, no. Don't do this. He's a psychopath! He's-!"

"Hey." The girl put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm gonna be okay. Right now, it's your turn to take care of Sammy."

I could see the tears welling in his eyes, but he nodded. "S-Sammy, we need to go."

The little toddler looked up at his older siblings, clutching his white bear tightly. "But wha' abou' Weggie?"

"Reggie's gonna be okay," Regina said as she kelt down and hugged the boy. "I gotta go do some grown up stuff, but I'll be back soon. You need to take care of Joshie for me, okay?"

"…Okay." He still seemed unsure, yet agreed.

"That's my little man." She picked the toddler up and handed him over to her other brother. Then she turned to Link. "Please protect them."

The Hylian boy nodded before giving a loud whistle. Moments later, his large crimson bird landed a short distance away. Link gestured for Regina's brothers to follow; they complied. As they boarded the large bird, I saw Josh give his sister one last wave goodbye before all three boys took off into the clouds. Regina followed the group with her gaze until they disappeared, then turned to me, a sadness in her eyes. "Can I have my old clothes back?" I flicked my wrist and summoned the garments for her. She took them and went around the corner to change.

I made a mental note to speak to her as I turned my attention back to Zelda. "If-…when Ghirahim is defeated, I'll send up a signal to you. We can continue this conversation then."

"Of course." The Hylian girl turned to the cliff. "And Ganon? …Good luck." With that, she leaped. I was slightly concerned until I heard a whistle and saw her safely on the back of her own bird.

So that was out of the way. Now…. "Sowel?"

The little pink fairy had been hovering awkwardly to side for a while and immediately perked up at the sound of her name. "Yes?"

"You should go home. Faron and that sister of yours will be missing you by now."

"WHAT?!" Sowel flew in front of my face, wing flapping rapidly. "I'm not leaving you two! We've been through so much already!"

"You won't like what comes next, I'll say that much."

For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw the fairy freeze up. There was a tiny sigh following that. "Alright. Just so you know, though, I'll be cheering you two on." Sowel fluttered a short ways away before stopping abruptly. "I hope we'll meet again someday." With that, she flew over the rock face and out of sight.

"So Sowel's gone too?" I turned to see Regina step out from around the corner, dressed in the same tan pants and short sleeved shirt she'd had when we first met.

"Yes, she's returning home."

"Not to be rude to her, but…why was she here again?"

"…I believe Faron told her to keep an eye on us, but I honestly can't remember."

 **No, that was the reason.**

I nearly jumped at the voice. Where the hell have you been for the past four days?!

 **Watching. Listening. Enjoying the show. I still can't believe I actually reincarnated into…well, her.**

"Is he talking to you again?" I heard Regina ask.

"After four days of simply watching, it would seem so."

"Okay. My Demise wanted me to tell your Demise to… what was it again?… 'Expect the Inquisition'?"

 **I suppose I'll keep that in mind.**

"He'll keep it in mind."

"Danzha."

I was surprised she even remembered that word. "Do you even know what you just said?"

"Is it 'Okay'?"

"It's actually the word for 'understand', but you were close."

Regina beamed before physically shaking her head. "So, what now?"

Yes, we had to focus now. I summoned the girl's phone with a flick of my wrist. "Now, we bring Ghirahim right to us."

She took the little tablet and immediately began tapping on its surface. "We're…here…send." There was a faint whistling sound and I knew the message was sent.

"Do you have your brush?"

"And my sketchbook. You have your sword?"

"Always."

So now we wait.

…

…

…

Fifteen minutes go by.

"I'm bored."

"What do you mean you're bored?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"At any minute we could be entering the fight of out lives. We may not come out of this alive, yet you're saying you're bored?"

"Yeah?"

"…Sigh, so am I."

…

…

…

Thirty minutes.

"Can I take your picture?"

"What?"

"You see, it's like-."

"I know the concept, I've seen pictoboxes before. I'm asking why."

"I wanna draw you and, since I don't know how long we're gonna be like this together, I need something to use as a reference."

"…Very well."

"Great! Now, hold still." She raises her phone. "Aaaaand…." There's a soft click. "Thanks. I'll get started on that drawing."

…

…

…

An entire hour has come and gone.

 _We are the people that you'll never get the best of, not forget the rest of rest of oh_

Regina had begun playing her music again. It wasn't like the soft, slow ballad she had played the other day but, as was stated before, anything was better than anything some Hylian bard could come up with in my age.

 _Four, that's how many years it took me to get through the lesson, that I had to do it all ON MY OWN!_

"Anything yet?"

 _Three, that's how many_ 'Hail _Mary's' they would pray for me, thinking I was gonna end up ALL ALONE!_

"Still nothing."

 _Two for second chances that you've given me, can it be? Lucky me, lucky me, NOW LET'S GO!_

"What's taking him so long?"

 _One is what we are, is what we are, ARE WE ALL WE ARE, ARE WE ALL WE ARE!_

"You know, I was never the biggest fan of Pink."

It took all the strength I had to not immediately stand and point my blade at the Demon Lord. I had to give Regina a glare, a signal to not react as Ghirahim sat on the ground on either side of us. "To be honest, all her songs start to sound the same over time. Then again, many bards of your century do tend to suffer that same fate, don't they?"

I payed no attention to what Ghirahim was saying, instead focusing on his left eye. His bangs covered most of his face, but at the angle I was at, I could just barely make out something. The Demon Lord saw me staring and grinned. "Like what you see, Desert King?" He then gave the same grin to Regina. "Perhaps you'd like to see it too. The damage done from your awakening." With a chuckle that quickly grew into a sadistic laugh, he held his bangs aside, giving the both of us a full view of just what Regina had done back at the Temple of Time. Where his eye had once been was a gaping hole with several scar lines leading away from it, all of which revealing the black metal the so-called "sword spirit" was hiding underneath that ivory white skin. I managed to hide my disgust of the scar fairly well, but Regina looked absolutely horrified. Ghirahim's laughter eventually died down. "Ahh, it's been a while since I was able to see an awakening, and I could never get that close, so thank you, Little Queen. I shall treasure this forever."

I found my shoulder clutched in a hard grip. The Demon Lord had grabbed us both and leaned forward. "Now then…. Shall we get back to business?"

A flurry of diamonds surrounded us.

* * *

Wherever we were now, it was pouring.

When the diamonds disappeared, I realized we were back at the stone temple. However, we were on the other side of those large double doors which we hadn't gone through. I turned and took in the rest of my surroundings. The most immediate feature was the large statue of the goddess Hylia in the middle of everything. Resting in the statue's hands was the Triforce. Not a symbol or carving. The actual Triforce.

 **Finally.**

I shook Demise's voice out of my head. There were more important things at stake right now. "Regina?!"

"Right here!" I saw the girl running towards me, brush in hand. Before she could reach me, however, Ghirahim appeared between us in his usual flurry of diamonds.

"Let's see that power of yours, Dear Regina!"

Paesh. Our one advantage had been taken away. Regina seemed to be unfazed by this. She returned the Demon Lord's grin with a glare. Black paint enveloped her brush and formed a whip, which was immediately aimed at his other eye. Ghirahim easily dodged and, summoning a sword, made to attack her undefended left side, but she did something surprising; the same black paint clustered around the sketchbook held tightly in her left hand and a shield was created. The Demon Lord was caught off balance, giving Regina just enough time to swing her weapon again. This time the whip made contact and the black paint quickly began to engulf him from the neck down and tighten around him. "Let's see you get out of this, Spandex."

Ghirahim let out a strangled chuckle as the paint continued to constrict him. "Very impressive."

"C'mon, let's grab my brothers and get to that Gate." The girl walked briskly past me toward the temple. I was about to follow her…but then I stopped myself. Something that had been in the back of my mind was suddenly shoved right back to my attention. The rain continued to fall around us as I made what may have been the biggest mistake of my life. I turned to face Ghirahim. "Why?"

"Why…what?" The Demon Lord was struggling to breathe.

"Ganon, let's go!"

"No. Why are we here? Why did you bring us here?" Ghirahim only laughed weakly, more of a wheeze at this point. "Regina, loosen your grip."

"What?!"

"Just do it!"

It took a moment, but Ghirahim was able to finally get a breath in. For a small eternity the only sound was his deep breathing, then….

"Let me tell you a story."

A pause.

"Once upon a time, a great Demon King cursed the land to be haunted by his incarnation, a manifestation of all his hatred, all his desires, all his rage. Mere seconds after his curse was placed, his power and consciousness was sealed away in a sword, a blade containing a spirit not too different from yours truly. However, several months after this occurred, the blade was removed from its pedestal, the wielder responding to a possible threat on his little village." I froze, knowing that threat was us. "This, of course, allowed the Demon King's spirit to be released and, roughly 673 years later, that curse would finally realize itself in a small Gerudo boy. He was the First. This was also roughly the time that the Demon King's ever faithful servant awoke from his…hibernation to oversee the boy's growth, always watching but never interfering. And so it went with that version of his reborn Master. And the next. And the next.

"However, as years stretched on and each incarnation came and went, the faithful servant began to notice something strange happening. You see, his Master's curse seemed to be, for lack of a better term, decaying. With every incarnation whose life came to an end, a bit of the Demon King would leave this mortal coil with them. This gradually continued until a little girl was born with the smallest sliver of his Master remaining. She would be the Last, as the servant knew that the Demon King's curse, his very spirit, would not last another incarnate. He knew he had to act fast, fearing what his Master's absence would mean. After nearly seventeen years of searching for an answer, he found three things. A time spell, a ritual for resurrection, and a prophecy. The prophecy stated that the First and the Last would be the most powerful in the Demon King's line, perfect vessels to aid in bringing about his return. So, after finding that, I followed the natural course of action. I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

I think it took a few minutes for Regina and I to process the information given to us, but I was left with even more questions. There had been (or in my case will be) more like us? What made the girl and I more special than all the rest? Why-?

"Now, I have a question for the two of you. Tell me, what happens to wet paint when it's rained on?"

I'm very sure the color drained from my face as I looked down at the black paint restraining Ghirahim. The rain had not stopped since we'd arrived and the paint was slowly dripping and running onto the ground. I suddenly realized what was about to happen.

I realized too late.

An explosion of paint and diamonds knocked me back, but I somehow managed to stat standing. Once the explosion subsided, I found out that was because I was now caught in a magic trap. Try as I might, I was paralyzed from the next down and could only watch in horror as Ghirahim approached me. His skin and clothing seemed to fall away as he continued forward and soon all that was left of him was a figure made of black metal.

 **Now then, boy, let us put an end to that which binds us together.**

I entered a blind panic, a feeling I had not known in ages. What was happening now? Where was Regina? Was she alright? "REGI-!"

Ghirahim placed a hand over my face.

Pain was all I knew after that.

* * *

I literally have nothing to say right now.

See you next chapter….


	12. Chapter 11: Final Project

Chapter 11: Final Project

The explosion as Ghirahim broke free knocked me back. For the longest time I just lay dazed on the ground, barely acknowledging what was happening. I thought I heard Ganon scream my name, but now he was just screaming. I managed to clear away enough of the dizziness in order to sit up. I immediately wished I'd stayed down. The rain had blurred up my glasses, but I could still see that some person made of black metal had a hand in front of Ganon's face, trying to pull something out. Who was that? Ghirahim? Eventually, Ganon's screams grew louder as something began to seep from his mouth and eyes; a black cloud that the metal person immediately grabbed hold of.

I looked away, sick to my stomach. This wasn't natural, this wasn't right. Minutes later, I heard the thud of a body and turned back to see Ganon slumped on the ground, not moving, not screaming. I suddenly recognized Ghirahim's voice coming from the metal person, muttering- no, chanting words I could never hope to understand. That was Ghirahim? THAT'S what he looked like under all that spandex and makeup?!

His chanting grew louder. The black cloud he pulled out of Ganon landed on the ground and grew into a large pool. Wisps of smoke emerged from the pool, trying to break free. The wind began to pick up and the entire area began to glow in a purple light. I looked away again, nearly blinded, as I heard Ghirahim's chanting morph into a maniacal laugh.

 **Why so scared? This is a momentous occasion! You must celebrate the return of the being that brought you into existence!**

"GO AWAY!" Looking back, it didn't make much sense to shout out loud at a voice in my head, but at the time I didn't care. I just wanted this chaos to end. I just wanted to go home.

A second after I shouted, everything stopped. The air was still and quiet and the light died. This was it then. The calm before the storm. I took a deep breath, adjusted my glasses, and looked back.

And there he was.

The man from my drawing.

"Demise."

The demon was kneeling at first, just a lump of black and grey. Then he stood; his black hair ignited into that familiar red flame and he revealed his red eyes. He seemed…confused at his surroundings. Then he raised his hand, clenching and unclenching it, and a wicked smile grew on his face. Ghirahim stood a few feet away, bowing before the new arrival. "Welcome back to us, Master."

I heard a groan to my right. I instantly went over to the man making it, helping his sit up. "Are you okay?"

"I-I…fe-feel…." He was shaking, stammering.

"You're gonna be fine. Can you stand up?"

He didn't respond, just stared at the ground. He was flicking his wrist over and over again bu nothing was happening. The triangle tattoo on his hand was glowing again, but the light was flickering.

This wasn't good. His magic was gone.

"You have done well, my blade." I dared a look back at Demise. He had a hand on Ghirahim's shoulder, another just under his chin. "And to bring me back so close to my ultimate goal." The Demon King gestured to the triangles in the statue's hands. "It seems luck has finally come to our side."

"Indeed it has, Master."

Demise's wolf-like grin grew even wider. He placed a hand on Ghirahim's chest, just above a diamond that I assumed acted as his heart (or some equivalent)…and began pulling something out of him. This time I didn't look away; I forced myself to watch as he pulled a large black sword out of the Demon Lord. Once the sword, the same one from my drawing, was fully freed, Ghirahim seemed to collapse before exploding into his usual flurry of diamonds. However, instead of disappearing, the diamonds were absorbed into the sword. It wasn't until the last of the diamonds had disappeared that Demise finally turned his attention to the both of us.

"Before that, let us discuss the matter of my missing piece."

Making sure Ganon would be fine without me, I stood, gripping my brush. "You seem powerful enough on your own. What do you need me for?"

"You're a clever girl. Think."

A that's what I did. Ghirahim had said that the First (Ganon) and the Last (me) would be the most powerful of his incarnates. However, Ganon had said that while there was magic in me, I had a hard time actually getting it to work. I guess that's the result of thousands of years of filtration…so what was left? What else could I remember from Ghirahim's spe-.

It hit me. "Memories."

 **Congratulations. Someone give the girl a prize.**

Of course. This little sliver of Demise left inside of me had survived hundreds of thousands of reincarnations. It had stayed here, watching, listening, remembering EVERYTHING. Mr. Chalanick had once said that knowledge is power, and what could be more powerful than knowing what would happen thousands of years into the future?

Demise grinned at my realization. "Now that you have that figured out, I humbly ask that you return to me what is mine."

Calm down, Regina. "And what if I say no?"

"I believe both you and I know that isn't a request."

"And if I still say no?"

I forced myself to remain calm as the tip of his blade appeared in front of my face tapped the bridge of my glasses. Demise smirk. "Now I see the resemblance. Ganondorf had that same arrogance at your age."

"And here we have the kettle calling the pot black."

A deep laugh was his response. "Even in the face of death you maintain such bravado."

I pushed the sword aside and looked him right in the eye, giving him my best fake-sweet smile. "Oh, I KNOW you're not gonna kill me."

"What makes you so sure?"

"You heard Ghirahim say it. If I die, I take that 'missing piece' of yours with me."

 **Oh you're good.**

"And what if I-."

This is probably the ballsiest thing I've ever done. As he reached one of those scaly hands towards me, I recreated a gun with my brush and raised it to the side of my head. My intent was clear to the Demon King: touch me and I pull the trigger. I was just hoping he'd take my bluff.

"I see."

Success.

Demise swung his sword and stuck it into the ground. He crossed his arms as he looked at me with interest. "What are your demands then? Do you want the Gerudo? To return to your time? Your family?"

I had to think quick. Save the world? Save myself? Save my brothers? Save Ganon?

All of the above?

I took a good look at the Demon King. The physical resemblance to Ganon was uncanny, but was that the only thing they had in common? Both were pretty big and looked fairly strong. Both were warriors and here I was with the shittiest stamina. But, then again, Link also had that shitty stamina; there was a minute back on Skyloft that he'd sprinted ahead and took the longest time to catch his breath. And that was the guy that defeated Demise in the first place. Maybe it was a speed thing? That would make sense: if I learned anything from LPs, the heaviest hitters would have the slowest attacks.

I didn't need to be a heavy hitter to beat him. I just needed to outfox him.

Even if this worked out, it was too bad I couldn't use this as my social studies project.

"I want a duel."

Demise gave me a look like he was being threatened by a cupcake (just the reaction I expected) then burst out laughing. "You? Fight me?! I've faced the wrath of the Golden Goddesses themselves-."

"And you still got your ass handed to you." Pause for effect. "Look, if you win, you get my piece and get to do whatever you want with it, no questions asked."

The Demon King at least looked interested. "And if you somehow win?"

"Then we go back to your original plan. You get your scaly ass back in your vessel and-."

"Re-Regina, n-no." I dropped my smile and turned back to Ganon. He was struggling to stand, obviously worried more about me than himself. I lowered the gun and brought my full attention to him, helped him stand steady.

"Hey, take it easy, I got this."

"H-he's going to…to-."

"Look at me." Oh how the tables had turned. "We're both gonna get out of this in one piece. Danzha?"

He seemed to recognize the situation (and how our roles had flipped) and gave me a weak smile. "…Danzha."

"Good. Now, sit back and enjoy the show."

He chuckled. Then the big guy stood tall and drew his white sword. "If you think I'm just going to sit on the sidelines like some damsel, think again."

My eyes went as wide as my glasses's frames. "B-but I thought you-."

"I may not have my magic, but my fists and blade work just fine. Besides, two demons against one Doodlebug is hardly fair."

"I guess you're right, Bushy Brow."

We both turned to face Demise. There were no snarky comments from him, no wolf-like grin. He looked just as determined as we were. Probably didn't want to give something away that could help us. Joke was on him though because he'd already given me three other clues. One: he'd tried to hide it well, but the desperation in his voice when he "asked" for my piece was still there. It was clear that he absolutely needed it and not just for those memories. With any luck, his body was still unstable and not quite whole: in other words, one good blow away from falling apart at the seams. Two: his expression and laughter when I first suggested this duel showed me how arrogant he was. He was underestimating us: we were beneath him in his eyes. Another advantage. Three: he could've picked me off and be done with it while my back was turned, but he chose not to, indicating a sense of honor. If- no, when we win this, he has to honor his word.

Hopefully.

 **Excellent deduction.**

I told you I had an eye for details.

"Let us begin."

This was it. This was my final project.

Demise ripped his sword out of the ground and immediately raised it high. There was a rumbling right before, I kid you not, a bolt of lightning came down and struck his blade. I could literally see the electricity coursing through it as he got ready to swing it towards….

Oh shit.

Ganon and I barely had enough time to jump out of the way before a blue beam flew towards us and crashed into the wall behind us. I dove for the cover of another wall while Ganon quickly recovered and immediately started a physical fight. My mind was racing as I heard the clattering of swords. Okay, so Ghira-Sword could become a lightning rod, but on the plus side, I was right about Demise's slow wind ups. Now, what could I do with this? I hugged my sketchbook to my chest and fumbled with my brush turned gun. I had never used a firearm in my life, let alone a magical paint pistol, so you can expect that when I popped up to offer support, I missed every shot. Luckily, I didn't hit Ganon with any of them, but the Demon King now knew where I was. He shoved Ganon away and leapt toward me. I barely had enough time to get out of the way before he brought down his sword and obliterated my hiding spot. Without thinking, I pulled the trigger.

A bullet hit him right in the scar on his forehead…and splattered.

It SPLATTERED. Into fucking PAINT.

What the fuck was this shit? Paintball?!

Fortunately, the paint blinded him for a few seconds, giving me enough time to check on Ganon (he was already in his feet again) and find a new hiding spot. "Hiding again, girl?" I heard Demise say. "You were the one to suggest this duel. Stop forcing all the work onto the boy!" More sword clatter as I scrambled to think of what to do next. All I knew at the moment was that sword had to go. The question was how? I heard another rumble and I knew Demise was pulling that same move again. Peeking out around my hiding spot, I saw Ganon dodge the beam that followed, but just barely.

I suddenly had an idea. But if this was going to work, I had to be quick and precise.

Opening up my sketchbook again, I quickly turned to Demise's page. With the same logic as the teddy bear in mind, I placed my hand over the paper and focused only on the Demon King's sword. Sure enough, within moments, I felt the hilt in my hand and with some more tugging, an exact replica of Ghira-Sword came loose from the page. It was extremely heavy and just as sharp, just as much a weapon as the original, so I had to be extra careful with this plan. Leaning the sword against the wall and tucking my still open sketchbook under my shirt, I watched the battle and waited.

"Ganon wasn't doing so well. He was barely dodging or blocking Demise's blows and whenever he went in for his own attack, the Demon King blocked with ease. Soon enough, the big guy was backed into a corner, no way to dodge. Demise gave his wolf-like smirk and raised his blade high. The rumble sounded.

I popped up immediately. The brush became a whip again as I aimed it to wrap around the sword. Demise wasn't expecting it, so I was able to pull it from his grasp with relative ease. The moment the real Ghira-Sword was in my hands, the lightning struck. The Demon King roared in pain as he was electrocuted by his own attack. I knew this wouldn't be what killed him so I quickly tossed the sword behind the wall and picked up my fake. From where I could see, Ganon was reaching his limit, leaned up against the corner and barely catching his breath. Don't worry, Ganon. I'm getting us out if this mess.

 **So what exactly IS your plan here?**

You're the one that's in my head. Think.

 **…Ah, I see. Well, here's hoping you pass.**

Demise recovered relatively quickly and looked back at me with a rage. His whole body began to smoke: the same black smoke from the cloud earlier. Just as I predicted, one good blow and he would come apart. I gave the fake sword an experimental swing, giving it my all just to maintain my balance. The Demon King growled, holding up a hand and wrenching the sword from my grasp with magic. He took the bait. I began to panic (at least it looked like I did) and fumbled to get my brush. I held it straight out at eye level, hoping and praying that this would work.

"This game is over!" Demise roared, lunging forward, aiming the fake blade to run through my gut. He had to aim for that spot: it was the only way he could keep me barely alive long enough to get what he needed.

"Damn right it is," I muttered as he arrived.

His aim was spot on.

* * *

CLIFFHANGER!

Regina: OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

Ganondorf: REALLY?!

*Cue evil laughter*


	13. Chapter 12: Saying Goodbye

Chapter 12: Saying Goodbye

My heart stopped when I saw Demise thrust his blade forward. My head was already spinning from the stress of Ghirahim's ritual, but I was nearly passing out from what the Demon King had just done. Why couldn't I save her? I should've saved her! I forced my eyes to focus on the scene before me. Once I calmed myself a bit, I started to notice some things. First of all, Regina had no blood on her. The blade had gone right through her abdomen, but it didn't stick out of her back, and there was not a drop of blood on her. The girl was breathing heavily, holding tightly to….

An exact replica of the Sages' Sword, currently imbedded in Demise's chest.

The Demon King had gone completely still, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Regina, with one last grunt pulled the brush-turned-blade free and stumbled back, leaving Demise to fall to his knees. His breath hitched as he looked up at the girl, the one who had probably just ended whatever hopes he had of ruling. Then he chuckled.

"Hehe…well…played."

Then, before my eyes, the Demon King burst into a cloud of black smoke. The cloud was still for a moment before it rushed toward and into me. I didn't flinch; I knew Demise was just returning to his host. The second the cloud fully disappeared from view, I heard his voice once again.

 **I suppose you won't be rid of me after all. How unfortunate.**

I didn't respond, I couldn't.I was too focused on her. She looked back at me with the same surprise, but quickly gave me a smirk. She leaned down behind her former hiding place and lifted up the real sword, leaning against it like a walking stick. "Heh, 'Demon King'? Hasn't that been way over done? Too easy."

I felt myself rushing forward and embracing her, nearly lifting her off her feet in my elatedness. "Sa mala pril! Sa mala pril…."

"Okay, you're kinda crushing me!"

Coming to my senses, but still overjoyed, I set her down. "You have to be the craziest girl I have ever had the fortune of meeting!"

"Hey, haven't you heard? Crazy is the new normal!" I don't know how long the both of us were smiling and laughing like the fools we were, the rain still coming down heavily. Once we calmed down, Regina finally seemed to process what just happened. "Holy shit, did I really just…? Dude, I just obliterated the equivalent of SATAN! Oh, Zoe and Lance are gonna be sorry for giving me all that shit! Wait til I- oh wait!" She turned back to me. "You have your magic back, right?"

I looked down at my hand and clenched it into a fist. "Only one way to find out." Muttering the incantation, I pointed towards the sky and sent up a red flare, the signal to the Zelda of this time. The flair flew upwards and parted the clouds, the warm twilight breaking through. I could only laugh; I was back to my old self again.

"I'll take that as a yes," I heard myself say.

"How DARE you!"

We both jumped at the sound of Ghirahim's voice. I looked down at the sword; the red gem imbedded in the pommel was glowing brightly with each word said. "Millenia of hard work and waiting WASTED! This was my purpose, MY MOMENT! How DARE you ruin my Master's return, you selfish, ungrateful, DISGRACEFUL-!" The Demon Lord turned sword was silenced when Regina morphed her brush into some sort of pincer tool and used it to wrench the gem out of the hilt.

"Blah, blah, blah," she mocked as she took the gem and put it in her pocket. She then gestured toward what was left of the sword. "You want the rest?"

* * *

For the next half hour as we waited for the Hylians, Regina and I continued laughing and conversing. At some point, we began to discuss our plans for when we returned to our times. She described in great detail a plan to mess with her Zoe and Lance, something about a 'Halloween' party (I believe it had something to do with costumes and sweets, so I just assumed it was similar to the Hallow's End festival the people of Hyrule had taken to celebrating). I…well, I wasn't to sure what I wanted to do.

"I can't exactly go back to Hyrule. And knowing what I do now, I'm not sure how to feel about…conquering it…again."

"What do you mean?"

"The one reason I had to do it was to protect those who couldn't protect themselves from the prejudice my people suffered from. Of course, that required hurting people who were just as innocent, and at the end of the day I'm easily overthrown. NOW I find that I've been a puppet this whole time to a sore loser of a demon just so he can get his grubby little fingers on the Triforce!"

"…Well, do you have to be a puppet?"

"What?"

"You seem to know better now, so you can choose to ignore what he says."

"…" I thought about her words for a minute. "…Well, now I feel idiotic." Why hadn't I thought of that in the first place?

 **You know-**

Demise, I swear to Din….

"No worries. Everybody has their stupid moments." Regina seemed to notice something and pointed upward. "Hey look!"

I turned toward what she was pointing to and saw two large birds, one red and one black, descending. Link and Zelda stepped down off the red bird once it had landed. The black bird followed closely behind, carrying….

"Weggie!"

"Reg!"

Sammy clutched his paint made teddy bear and began wriggling in Groose's arms. Josh picked up the toddler from the panicked Gerudo boy, practically leapt off the Loftwing, and ran towards his sister. Regina collided with her overjoyed bothers and was laughing and crying all over again. At some point I was dragged into the hug as well. For a moment, I was perfectly content…until I saw Zelda giving me a sad smile. She had something on her mind that she wanted-needed-to say.

His observations were interrupted by Groose, still sitting on his bird and eying Regina wearily. "If that's all you guys need me to do, I'm gonna head back. See you back on Skyloft." With that, the Gerudo boy lifted off, back up towards the clouds.

"Alright," Regina said, breaking out of the hug. "Let's go home." She took Sammy from Josh and turned towards the temple door. The elder brother and I followed, with the two Hylians close behind. Walking through the doors, I saw the very room where this adventure had began. It was less than a week ago that I found myself here trying to comfort a scared little girl (who then proceeded to ask about my eyebrows of all things), but it felt like an eternity ago. Once everyone had gathered inside, Zelda stepped before everyone, a familiar golden harp in her hands. She lifted her hands and began to strum a song. A good way into the song and something began to take shape in the middle of the room. As it became more and more visible, I saw it was a large blue gear. I heard Sammy "ooh" and "ah" as multiple symbols, some of which I recognized, appeared on the gear's surface. Finally, what I assumed to be the Gate of Time solidified and began to rotate with a steady 'cluck' each time it turned.

Zelda turned to our ragtag group. "The Gate will return all of you to where you're supposed to be."

Regina passed Sammy over to Josh and looked up at me. "We'll keep in touch, right?"

I had to piece together what the phrase meant, but I assumed it meant 'keep in contact'. "We'll see," I answered as I summoned her bag and handed it to her. "Time is a tricky thing to overcome when it comes to communication, but I'll-."

"Actually…." we were interrupted by Zelda, who looked extremely uncomfortable. I assumed it was because of our by now obvious nature, but then she turned to Link. The boy nodded and the little goddess incarnate took a shaky breath. "W-while you were facing Demise and Ghirahim, I received another message."

"Okay," Regina interrupted. "What does Hylia have to say now?"

"Not from Hylia. From Din."

I froze and my gaze immediately went to my right hand.

"…Who's Din?"

"The Goddess of Power," I answered my companion. "And one of the three Golden Goddesses of the Triforce."

"Yes," Zelda continued. "She said…." Another breath. She turned to Regina. "Regina, please understand that while both of you are indeed Demise's incarnates, one of you has an additional responsibility to uphold." She turned to me. "Ganondorf, as the bearer of the Triforce of Power in your own time, it is your duty to reunite with the bearers of Wisdom and Courage, whether it be as enemies or allies….I-it is Din's decree that, in order to uphold the balance of the Triforce, you will not be allowed to remember what has transpired here."

My mind drew a blank. "I…won't remember…any of this?" Her silence was my only answer.

"But that's not fair." There was the beginning of a sob in Regina's voice as she spoke. "WHY can't he remember?! What's so wrong about all this that he can't remember any of it?!"

Josh tried to intercede. "Regina-."

"No! Whoever this bitch thinks she is, Goddess of Power or whatever, she CAN'T do this!"

Zelda tried this time. "If you'd let me finish-."

Regina was having none of it as she pointed toward the ceiling. "YOU HEAR ME UP THEIR, YOU SLUT?! I JUST KILLED A DEMON KING, I'LL-!"

"Regina!" I grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. It was only then that I saw the tears in her eyes. Her face was a mixture of anger and grief as a few tears escaped to get caught in her glasses and cascade down her cheeks. She sniffed before looking up at me. "W-what?"

"It's alright."

"No it's no-."

"Look at me." She did. "I'll be alright. I may not remember you, but you'll still remember me. It's your job to keep that memory for the both of us. Danzha?"

She sniffed again. "…D-danzha."

I hugged her for what I would belive to be the last time. "I'm going to miss you."

"Same here."

"Um, I wasn't finished." Zelda interrupted us one more time. "Ganondorf, you only have to reunite with Courage and Wisdom as the bearer of Power one last time. Assuming you survive, Din may be able to grant you back your memory."

All of us stared at her for the longest time. Then Regina, still teary-eyed, stepped toward her and proceeded to smack her across the face. "That's the kind of thing that you say first!" Link immediately leapt in front of the Goddess incarnate while I picked up the other girl to stop her from doing more damage. "C'mon, let me at her! Let me at the little bi-."

"Language!" Josh shouted, covering Sammy's ears just in case.

It took about five minutes before Regina calmed down enough to be released. The indicator was when the girl quite suddenly fell limp in my arms. I put her down, but kept my hands on her shoulders just in case. "Are you alright?"

"…Actually, yeah. Glad I got that off my chest." I then noticed her perk up a bit before going off to rummage through her backpack.

"That was completely uncalled for!" Link suddenly berated before Zelda put a hand on his shoulder. Either way, the hero was promptly ignored as Regina pulled out her sketchbook and began scribbling something on the page.

"No, I probably deserved that." Her cheek was red from the slap, but she ignored it as she looked between the both of us. "Wherever you go and no matter what you are left with, I wish you both luck on the journey ahead."

"Wait. Before we go." I felt a tug on my cape. Regina was holding a folded paper and a worn out string when I turned to face her. "Can I see Ghira-Sword for a second?"

"Ghira…oh, yes." I summoned said blade and held it out for her. She took the hilt, tucked the grip into the fold of the parchment and secured it with the string.

"Don't lose this. I'd have wasted a perfectly good shoelace if you do."

"What-?"

"And don't read it until you're back in your time, got it?"

At this point, I just gave up ever fully understanding the girl. I decided that it wasn't a loss as I gave her a smile, sending the sword away with a flick of my wrist. "Danzha."

"Good." I nearly toppled over as I received yet another hug from her. Just as quickly she pulled away, put her bag on, and relieved Josh of the task of holding Sammy. "Can you say bye bye, Sammy?"

The toddler grinned, teddy bear in hand. "Bye bye, Ganny!"

"Bye bye, Sammy. And Josh? Make sure you take care of your siblings."

"Yes, Coach," the boy answered.

We all turned towards the Gate and stepped forward. As we approached, the symbols on the large gear disappeared, making way for an endless tunnel. A few steps into the tunnel and everything turned to white. As the light enveloped everything around me, I heard a faded voice echo from all around:

"Thanks for being my Dad for a while."

* * *

Another moment later and the surge ended. My surroundings focused in and I was now aware of a dull ache in my chest. The Sages had stepped away from me in horror. Wait… one was missing. The Sage of Water. That's when I noticed her mask on the ground in front of me and her sword in my hand. No explanation was needed then.

…Wait. This had just happened. I slackened, holding a hand to my head, trying to piece together what had happened. I was chained to the wall…the Sages appeared…they impaled me…some power overtook me and I lunged forward. I now had the sword in my hand and the Sage of Water was dead. That was it.

So why did I feel like something was missing? What was that gap in my mind?

The remaining Sages got their wits about them. A spell was uttered and ghostly hands were raised towards the only other object in the ruined chamber. A sleek black mirror. The mirror gave off an unearthly light that was reflected off the stone pillar behind me. Any reaction on my part came too late as I found myself being pulled into the portal that the mirror had formed.

No. I struggled to free myself, but the force just pulled me further in. I roared as the Sages' Sword was wrenched from my grasp and flung into the void. I cannot die today. I will not-!

The next thing I knew was shadow.

* * *

Not quite finished yet, heheh.

Sa mala pril- my little girl


	14. Epilogue: And So

Epilogue: And So….

When I first blinked back into reality, I thought it had all been a dream. I was back in the front seat of my brother's car, stuck in a ditch with the passenger side lifted up at a 45 degree angle. I looked around; my brothers were slowly blinking awake in their respective seats, probably wondering the same thing. We were back where this whole crazy adventure had started…but did it really happen?

I felt something in my hand. I looked down and saw the sleek black brush that had become my personal magic wand in the last few days. So it HAD happened? I had to be sure. Pulling out my phone from the backpack on my lap, I quickly turned it on and opened it up. The battery was a 80%, just as it had been when we were picking up Sammy. But there was now a new photo in my album: one featuring a certain dark-skinned, red-haired, golden-eyed man sitting cross-legged with a white sword laying across his lap.

I almost cried when I saw the picture I took before the fight. "Hey Dad."

* * *

My life didn't instantly get better. My real Dad didn't come back to see us after all these years, my grades didn't get higher, my Mom still worked those extra hours at the hospital, and I was still a black-sheep at school. Of course, it wasn't like nothing at all had changed, because it definitely did. First of all, I finally got over my daddy issues, so that's a plus. Then what happened was I tried encouraging Mom to take a break every once in a while. While she still works hard, Sammy does get to see her more often when it's time for his chocolate milk and Josh can look forward to having her see a basketball game or two. After that, I went ahead and tried to change my loner status at school; I joined the art club (shocker), took a mid-year new student under my wing, and worked in stage crew for the winter play. Hey, even Veronica Mars made a few friends along the way. As for that social studies project…well, I didn't have best overall strategy (Mr. Chalanick said a couple details were over the top and extremely unlikely), but I did get a pretty good grade.

Now enough about all that. I have a Halloween party to tell you about.

I knew the whole thing was some sort of trap from the moment Zoe gave me the invitation. That idea was only reinforced by the identities of my two enemies-turned-hosts. But of course I wasn't going to miss out on turning the tables and messing with them. So that's what found me for most of that Saturday working frantically on my 'costume'. Truth be told, with my new little gimmick, I could just draw what I wanted and bring it out for myself to wear. The trick was to actually figure out what I wanted. After a while, I finally decided on something I like. A white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black pants and boots, a dark grey tie and fedora with a white band (I also made Ghirahim's gem into a pin and tacked it on the band), a black glove to cover up my new scar, and a vest with my own special pattern on it (but more on that later). Simple, comfortable, but with just enough flare to be easily noticed.

And believe me, I wanted everyone to see what was going down.

I've personally never been to Zoe's house (which surprisingly was not a mansion, just a nice big house), but her bimbo friends have posted enough interior pictures on Instagram for me to get a pretty good idea of the layout. Social media was also how I new that Zoe's parents were out of town for the weekend. When Josh and I rolled up the driveway, I saw that some of the party extended outside the place and into the backyard. I stepped out of the car, brush in hand, and gave my irish twin a thumbs up. He returned the gesture and began backing out. Even though he'd be parked a little ways down the road, I was virtually on my own until I called him. I had no idea what to expect, no idea whether they would jump me straight away or have something subtle happen while the party was happening. The moment I stepped inside, I would have to start planning a counter attack. For the time being, I took a deep breath and went to knock on the door.

Like any good high school party, all was chaos. Music blasting from every corner of the room, strobe lights about to give somebody a seizure, red cups filled with soda (some with beer), and everything else you could think of. Of course, this being a Halloween party, there were appropriate decorations everywhere: paper bats hanging off streamers on the ceiling, plastic skeletons pinned on the wall, black cloth covering the windows for dramatic effect, and so on. Everyone, every Junior that I knew by name or by face, was in their own skimpy or half-assed costumes. One of them, a girl dressed up as a "sexy" mouse (I think her name was Angela), practically shoved a cup into my hand before stumbling away, saying "thanks for the beer". I was a bit confused at first, but after asking around, I found that someone had said that I had apparently provided the beer. And the strobe lights. And the inappropriate music. So once Mr. and Mrs. Nohansen returned home, Zoe would "tattle" about how "I" turned her "intimate get together" into a sleazy college party. That would eventually cause me to be expelled from school and be given a nasty stain on my criminal record.

Pfft. And this chick was supposedly the distant descendant of a reincarnated goddess? She'd already given me enough to play with and now she practically hands over an extra measure as well?

I stepped outside and found what I was looking for: Zoe and Lance, standing by the swimming pool while talking to another couple. Both of them looked like the spitting images of Link and Zelda, with a few differences here and there (no weapons and no pointy ears). Zoe spotted me and waved me over, acting as if we were best buddies. Playing the oblivious fool, I gave her my absolute best smile and walked towards my enemies, brush temporarily going into my pocket. "What's up?"

"Glad you could make it, Regina!" Zoe practically shouted.

"I'm sure. Good to see you too, Lance."

The wannabe hero stood awkwardly, obviously not as good at hiding his discomfort. "Yeah."

"Wait…." Zoe squinted at my vest before going wide-eyed.

"You like it? I made it myself." I gave them a little twirl so the both if them could see. Now, let me tell you exactly what they saw. The base color was about the same shape of purple as my glasses. Covering the purple was a pattern of peacock feathers, mainly the little eyes that you'd see on the tips; from outward to the insides, the colors were gold, white, black, then gold again. There's a little surprise though. You see, back during my trip in the past, I noticed a special symbol on Ganondorf's cape. The only accurate way I could describe it would be like the rough outline of a dragonfly's face. So, as a testimony to the big guy, the center circles for my peacock eyes were replaced with that symbol. And I guessed by the look on Zoe's face that she recognized it as well.

"But that's-!" She dropped her smile and all but glared at me. "How long have you known?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Since yesterday. Why, how long have you known?"

She squinted. "Sixth grade."

"Ah, so that explains it."

"Zoe, what's she talking about?" I glanced over and poor Lance was so confused.

I gasped in pretend shock. "How long have you two been dating now? Four years? And you haven't even told him, have you?"

"Told me what?" The poor guy was getting more upset by the second while his girlfriend just glanced to the side. Oh, this was too easy! I leaned in for barely a second and whispered:

"I look forward to working with you, Hero."

With that, I turned on my heal and made my way back to the rest of the party, leaving my two enemies in the dust. As I pushed through the crowd of wasted Juniors, I took one last look at the decorations and smirked. I now had one hand on the knob of the front door, the other reaching for my brush. A turn and a flick later, everyone was screaming at the sight of skeletons dancing and bats flying every which way. I had to keep myself from laughing as I jogged down the driveway and to the road. Now it was time for the extra measure. I pulled out my phone and dialed a certain three digit number.

" _9-1-1, what's your emergency?_ "

"Y-yes, hello?" I answer in my best worried voice. "I was just driving down the road. I passed this house and I-I thought I heard screaming. There were all these flashing lights and-and I think there's kids there!"

" _Okay, please calm down, ma'am. Can you give me the address?_ "

I gave her what I "believed" was Zoe's address and the nice operator said they'd send an ambulance and a couple of squad cars right away. I hung up and I finally let loose my laughter. It was a twenty minute drive to here from the closest police station and I'd set the decorations to dance and fly around for twenty two. By the time the bats and skeletons returned to their places on the walls and ceiling, the cops would be parking in the driveway. Zoe wouldn't have time to hide the evidence, let alone actually frame me for any of it. I texted Josh to pick me up quick as I stood at the end of the driveway, still in a giggle fit.

"Think I overdid it?"

 **HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!**

"Yeah, me neither."

 **Oh, that was well played. But I think you could've done more.**

"This was just to shake them up. I'm saving the bigger stuff for later."

You know, I could get used to this "Demon Incarnate" thing.

* * *

"So, the Last has awakened?"

"That would appear to be the case, Master. However, something…strange happened."

"How so?"

"Someone interfered briefly. They took the Incarnate and her siblings away. Not a minute later, all three were returned by unknown means and she bore the Mark of Demise."

"I see…."

"M-Master?"

"We may have another player on the board. For now, send in Byrne."

"Byrne?!"

"Now that she's awoken, she will become a target. He will fit in beside her, protect her at all costs, and be our eyes and ears on the inside."

"But, Master, what shall we do in the meantime?"

"We watch and wait. That has been the purpose of the Eye for generations. We must do this, or the world will fall into ignorance and obscurity."

"V-very well. It shall be done."

"Heheh. Regina Adams, how you've grown. So young, yet already aware of the power inside of you. Fear not the world that has appeared before your eyes, for the Eye of the Yiga is always watching over you."

* * *

 ** _The First and Last will return…._**


End file.
